In a process that combines painting and carpentry in defiance of traditional distinctions between fine art and craft, Chloe Chiasson’s large-scale work highlights queer life and visibility. She masterfully collages images from different time periods, finding an unexpected resonance within disparate moments: lesbians adorned with religious imagery and nods to uninhabitable landscapes surrounding figures who appear acclimated and at ease. This work offers an intimate view into a radical history and a personal lifetime.

Chiasson’s "Keep Left at the Fork" is her largest body of mixed-media paintings to-date and the artist’s first museum presentation, which revisits Americana imagery from previous work to continue her explorations of nonconforming sexualities and identities in environments like that of her childhood in Texas. Described by the artist as an imaginative drive down the main street of a small Southern town, the sculptural paintings present idealistic visions of rural-bred teens and young adults taking ownership of storefronts, backyards and riverside parking lots.

Chiasson lays before us the trappings of nostalgia as it appears for most Southerners, while challenging us to consider a rewritten narrative, one that not only includes but celebrates queer identity within this distinct cultural context. Permeated by a coexisting sense of anxiety and comfort, "Keep Left at the Fork" is a testament to the queer experience and a quintessential homecoming for Chiasson, reflecting both a memory and a hope.

Chiasson will create a world that asks its audience to consider inherited values, community, and the beauty of forging one’s own path. Her sculptural paintings pardon past social trespasses in return for unconditional acceptance, offering a liberating guide that urges others to find and follow their innate sense of direction, even in a place as unfamiliar as home.

Following the opening day, the exhibit will be on view through March 17.