Brick-and-Mortar Reveries: Queer Spaces Through Crossman’s Eyes

September 12 – November 22
Opening Reception Special Feature / Gay Bar: Sep 12, 8-11pm
Artspace

Babe, yr my religion dives into the queer bar as sacred space. These spots—where people gather, celebrate, grieve, and protest—carry deep weight in the histories of queer and trans social life and political organizing, even as many of these brick-and-mortar institutions vanish. Crossman sparks cross-generational conversations, riffing on queer film, television, and seminal works like Leslie Feinberg’s 1993 Stone Butch Blues, an autobiographical novel confronting gender, class, queerphobia, transphobia, antisemitism, and police brutality in the latter half of the 20th century. This solo show presents a new body of work that pays homage to queer media and literature, honoring the precarious spaces that have preserved these histories while imagining bolder, more inclusive futures.

Artist Bio:

Adrien Crossman (they/them) is a queer and trans white settler artist, educator, and curator based on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe in so-called Hamilton, Ontario. MFA in hand from the University of Windsor (2018) and a BFA in Integrated Media from OCAD University (2012), Crossman channels queer and critical theory alongside personal experience to explore the affective textures of queerness—what it feels like—through objects and installations. They co-founded and co-run the online arts platform off centre, direct Orchid Contemporary, an independent gallery in their backyard garage, and in 2025 received a Hamilton Arts Award in the Creator category. Crossman also teaches as an Assistant Professor in the School of the Arts at McMaster University.

Stay tuned for more information about our Artist Talk on Nov 22.

A special thanks goes to the Ontario Arts Council and Superframe for their support of Adrien Crossman’s work. Crossman acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council and Superframe in bringing this work to life.

Haven, 2024, lightbox, video
Union Gallery, Kingston, ON
Photo credit: Chris Miner