Starting this season, Seattle Rep is offering the Bagley Wright Theater gallery wall as free gallery space for local artists. The art presented is meant to enhance your experience of the show while highlighting and supporting a local artist. Arrive at the theater early to view work by the featured artist for True West, Miles Schlagel.

About the Artist: Miles Schlagel

Seattle based artist and arts educator, Miles Schlagel, uses his art to explore concepts of queer masculinity after "coming out" and moving away from a conservative community in rural Idaho. Miles uses traditional symbolism in western art to convey these concepts through mediums like printmaking, oil paintings, and watercolors. Miles earned his M.F.A. from Seattle University and is actively pursuing further opportunities to exhibit in the Seattle area while teaching full time as a Visual Arts and Applied Technology Instructor at a K-12 school for students with disabilities.  

ARTIST STATEMENT 

"This series of aluminum plate and solar plate etchings explores the complex concepts of masculinity in our culture. Throughout western art, the horse has been used as a visual representation of masculinity. Similarly in my work, the horse represents societal expectations of what men should be: horses are big, strong, dominant, muscular, beautiful, athletic, and can be trained to be aggressive beasts used for war. For many individuals who identify as male, these expectations are unachievable, and do not match our identities. I spent my childhood struggling to hide my true self behind these false standards of masculinity in order to fit in and be accepted. This series is a visual dissection of separating those expectations and identifying the true parts of my identity as an openly queer man."

CONTACT

To contact the artist about purchasing their work, email them directly at milesschlagel@gmail.com.