Modern Abstract Figurative Collage Canvas Untitled A World Where I Exist Signed

An evocative contemporary collage that blends abstraction and figuration to explore themes of identity, sexuality, and visibility. The artist combines photographic reproductions of classical and homoerotic male nudes with expressive charcoal and ink gestures. Faint washes of white and tan pigment lend a ghostly, archival quality to the layered surface. Across the canvas, hand-scrawled text in various sizes and orientations invites introspection: phrases such as “A WORLD WHERE I EXIST,” “DISABLE VISION,” and “GAY?” challenge cultural erasure and assumptions of heteronormativity. A powerful handwritten statement at the top reads:

“If a GAY person grows up with the people around you, including your parents, ASSUMING that you are… At some point, of course, you know different, and so you acquire a kind of double vision…”

The composition is fragmented, echoing the complexity of queer existence and the tension between visibility and marginalization. Monochrome photographic images—evoking both art history and eroticism—are collaged in varying scales, including depictions of muscular male figures in repose or embrace. Text clippings further enhance the sense of dislocation and critique. This visually and emotionally charged work is a compelling reflection on belonging and the formation of identity within and against societal frameworks. The title phrase, “A WORLD WHERE I EXIST,” becomes both a declaration and a demand. Measures 20 inches tall, 24 inches wide, and 1.5 inches deep (stretched, unframed). In very good condition.