TREVON LATIN

In TOYMAKER, Latin builds a digitally inspired landscape that isinhabited by beings in a state of becoming. Interested in world-buildingfrom a young age, gaming and cartoons served as a means of escapefor the artist. Growing up as a queer person in the South, his own identitywas formed as much in online communities as it was in the physicalworld. Latin began working on TOYMAKER following his return toHouston, Texas. Consequently, the works on view serve as a reflectionon childhood and the metamorphoses of aging and self-becoming. Inthis latest body of work, Latin explores these motifs through charactersthat transform between childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, whilereferencing the artist’s own relationship between the virtual and physical.

Latin’s homecoming reintroduced them to focal aspects of their youth. Intheir Southern Black Pentecostal community in Texas, Christianity wasthe epicenter, which the artist increasingly struggled with as theyembraced their own identity. In Latin’s new series of portals, they revisitthis relationship through seven wall sculptures that recall sacredarchitecture. Formally, the works are shaped as portals or doorways,recalling rounded Roman and pointed Gothic arches of historicalcathedrals. The quilted plane is a kaleidoscope of colors, reminiscent ofstained-glass windows, where traditional biblical stories have beenreplaced by those of transformation, fantasy, and Latin’s own upbringing.

Latin imbues each portal with figures that appear to be growing out ofthe frame, simultaneously emerging and constrained. Each portal depictsabstracted figures in luminous chroma, illustrating stages of dysmorphiato empowerment, insecurity to intimacy. The series traces detailedportraits of individual avatars throughout development: from childrensipping on bottles, to adolescents at play, and finally, a reckoning of one’sown mortality.

In Lean with the left-lean with the left | Llelow, Latin depicts a bas-relieffigure in a lunging position, appearing to jump from the frame with aboxing glove raised, asserting their presence amid a field of flowers. Thegenderless figure propels upwards, leaving in their wake teardropswhich fall toward their feet. The figure merges with the quilted plane,underscoring the necessity of artistry and creation as a mechanism forqueer survival. In Our daily bred | Blue-berries n’ cream, Latin depictstwo headless forms in a loving embrace, their bodies and patternschameleon-ing into one another. Dripping in pearls and stones,surrounded by flowers and butterflies, the figures propose a queer loveof unabashed beauty. If religious architecture aims to blur the boundariesbetween the sacred and material worlds, Latin’s work goes one stepfurther, seeking to embed often marginalised experiences into our historyand built environment.

The exhibition culminates in a sculpted figure, titled Big Blu, an avatarpresent in Latin’s practice for half of a decade. Big Blu is both anaccomplice and mirror for Latin, a constructed identity that he can puton. This iteration of Blu exhibits a newfound air of self-assuredness,emphasised by their stance, which mirrors a quintessential gamingposture taken by characters prior to combat. Here, Big Blu rests upon agarden of luscious green fabric, whose earthliness grounds the avatar,granting space and safety.

This exhibition is dedicated to Latin’s late mother, Shanda.