Statement:
A.M. is making work through the lens of the social and psychological impact of suppressing queer identity. Their focus is on the intersection of mental health and the queer experience of moving through the world.
Queer people are often in a place of endless self-discovery while fighting external pressures to suppress their true selves. They are in a perpetual state of tending to psychic wounds that remain in flux and are rarely allowed to heal or fully exist as they are. Queer individuals are more likely to experience depression as well as other mental health issues because of the traumas and inequities they often experience throughout their lives. A.M. is exploring the experience of coming into queerness while also understanding their unsound mind.
Though they depict pain, A.M. makes work that takes up space and utilizes vibrant color to give the work a presence of power and pride through the expression of pain. Lacking in gender, wood becomes a material metaphor for queer identity. Much of the wood used by A.M. are from sections of trees that have cavities and wounds from life, others are from the roots of the tree- the base support and the primary mode of sustenance. Through the transformation of the surface of wood with carving and oil, it becomes viscera and flesh. Fresh and healing wounds and bruises cover the surface of the flesh, referencing a journey to this moment. Additional elements of carefully chosen and manipulated domestic objects are fastened to, inserted in, or placed around the wood. These additions animate the flesh, also making it recognizable but skewed. The work calls for you to come forth but repulses, depression is a similar animal. The opposite of trauma is power, A.M. is dispelling their pain into their work which gives them an air of power and defiance over their experience. A.M. is exploring places where beauty and the grotesque intersect, it is the anatomy of their melancholy.
CV:
Education
2015
BFA, Sculpture and Studio for Interrelated Media
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Solo Exhibitions
2014
Body of Work
Godine Family Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Boston MA
Group Exhibitions
2022
Quotidian Queer
University Hall Gallery at UMass Boston
Boston MA
2021
some assembly required
The Distillery Gallery
Boston MA
2021
BIG MOOD
Virtual Exhibition
Stay Home Gallery
2021
May/be/Mad
Virtual Exhibition
Folk Lab.net
2016
Quicksand
The New Art Center
Newton MA
2015
In Grain: Contemporary Work in Wood
The Fleming Museum Of Art
Burlington VT
2015
Sculpture BFA Thesis Show
Bakalar & Paine Galleries, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Boston MA
2015
All School Show Awards Show
Frances Euphemia Thompson Gallery Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Boston MA
2015
All School Show: Sculpture
Student Life Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Boston MA
2014
All School Show: Studio For Interrelated Media
Godine Family Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Boston MA
Awards/Recognition
2015
First Place: Helen Blair Crosbie Sculpture Award
2015
Best in Show, MassArt All School Show, Sculpture Category
2015
Best in Show, MassArt All School Show, Studio for Interrelated Media Category
Residencies
October 2021
Dear Artists With Anxiety (DAWA) Virtual Art Residency
Press
2021
‘Some Assembly Required’: well worth assembling
Boston Globe
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/17/arts/some-assembly-required-well-worth-assembling/
2021
Bubblegum Grotesque: Interview with Big Mood Artist A.M. Disher
Powerclashart.com
https://powerclashart.com/bubblegum-grotesque-interview-with-big-mood-artist-a-m-disher/
