Nathaniel J. Bice (He/Him)
Nathaniel J. Bice is a transgender and bisexual artist living and working in San Francisco. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, he graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle with a degree in Performance Production in 2018. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, he has pivoted his career from theater to fine art, and committed to San Francisco as both his home and a primary source of inspiration for his work. He is a member of The Spooky Haus, which is a transgender artist cooperative in the Bay Area.
Nathaniel’s Objects of Queerness series is a new take on the tradition of still life painting, asking the subjects to think about what belongings are emblematic to them of their queer identities. Just as the things in historical still life paintings had symbolic meanings relating to death, religion, or wealth, he is using a modern lexicon of the cultural significance of these objects to have a visual conversation about queer identity. This series takes identity discussion beyond the realm of labels and definitions. Queer identity touches every part of our lives and expresses itself culturally in a variety of ways. A still life depicts objects, but it is really just another lens through which to depict people. Though it is important to make trans bodies visible, the niche that this series fills is an exploration of queer culture and specifically gender that is not tied to our bodies but rather the choices we have made and on what we bestow significance.
