Cobi Moules – Bois Just Wanna Have Fun

Posted by Fabio 21 October 2013

Driven by the desire for adventure and discovery, Cobi Moules set out across America not only to explore the country’s natural beauty and
diversity, but also to reflect upon his position within it. Moules’ study of the grand American landscape quickly conjures up images and iconography from a plethora of historical landscape paintings, most notably mid-19th century American landscape paintings.

Loosely utilizing the Hudson River School as a visual point of departure, Moules metaphorically utilizes the landscape as a stand-in for his own Christian upbringing. “Bois Just Wanna Have Fun” is a synthesis of wanderlust and raison d’etre, where he creates a fantasy world in which only he exists. His
compositions contain a multitude of self-portraits and narratives, each coexisting to create a parallel and/or alternate plane that invokes a sense of excitement, self-worth and play. Through the multiplication and overwhelming presence of his ‘self’ within the paintings, Cobi Moules takes precedence over the landscape, fully integrating himself into an art historical lexicon that typically exemplifies the insignificance of the individual and the manifestation of God.

I see a number of ideological links between their [Hudson River School] works and a specific current American Christian culture that was an integral part of my formative years; particularly in regards to ideas of purity and the honor of sacrificing one’s selfhood for the glory of God. As a queer and transgender person, I seek to renegotiate my relationship with this upbringing and the act of being told I am ‘unnatural’ through such a pointed Christian lens._Cobi Moules

Cobi Moules
Bois Just Wanna Have Fun
Lyons Wier Gallery, NY
October 10 – November 9, 2013