One of the most exciting emerging figurative painters in Brooklyn, Anthony Cudahy is renowned for his luminescent paintings of vulnerable moments that explore the nuanced complexities of life. Boasting two solo exhibitions in New York and one in Paris in 2021, the artist has recently gripped the attention of art critics and collectors alike. In his work, Cudahy presents untold queer histories, recontextualizing the past to address the present, thereby speaking to the queer experience across generations.

Intrinsic to Cudahy’s artistic process is how he consults his archive: “I’m looking for something unknown and unspecified,” he elucidated, “that feels necessary to figuring out something about now.”ⁱ Using source materials that range from found photographs to queer archival images and art-historical reproductions, Cudahy’s tender scenes are drawn from his own archive of reference material, adding to the personal and poetic nature of his paintings. Through these nuanced depictions of queer narratives, Cudahy aims to challenge the notion of a fixed past, recentering marginalized groups that have historically been diminished.

In tune with Cudahy’s easily discernable style, Ian with Knots, 2017, provides an intimate view of an exposed figure in an unspecified domestic space. Fluid brushstrokes render vibrant, saturated color that lends a glowing quality to the scene, as if the figure is lit from within. Known for referencing Renaissance paintings, Cudahy here illustrates forms on either side of the figure’s head appear to be incomplete lover’s knots, perhaps signifying the loss of a romantic partner. The subtle complexities in Ian with Knots weaves the past and present to speak to a poignant, universal truth that binds the human condition.

ⁱ Anthony Cudahy, quoted in Rafael Soldi, “Q&A: Anthony Cudahy,” Strange Fire Collective, July 12, 2018, online.
- Provenance
  68projects, Berlin
  Private Collection
  Acquired from the above by the present owner
- Exhibited
  Berlin, 68projects, Moments of Intimacy, September 14–October 20, 2018
- Literature
  Rafael Soldi, "Q&A: Anthony Cudahy," Strange Fire, July 12, 2018, online (illustrated)