Born and raised into the Utah LDS tradition, and then thrust into the reality of being a gay man in an environment ill-equipped for that revelation, my work is primarily an exploration of isolation. The figures I paint are ideals of beauty made wan and somber, reflections of the proverbial outsider in communities glorified by sex—deified in the LDS tradition, the tie that binds and breaks in the LGBTQ community. Rather than celebrate sexuality, these imagined objects of desire pose the question: To what extent do the idols we bind ourselves to and shape ourselves after harm or diminish the identities we strive to stake out?

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Instagram: @tommy_costelloiv