nathan storey

𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹𝑻𝑶𝑾 𝑭𝑶𝑹 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑨𝑵 𝑫𝑰𝑬𝑮𝑶 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑶𝑵-𝑻𝑹𝑰𝑩𝑼𝑵𝑬 we were honored to be in print on newsstands last month in the San Diego Union—Tribune. 𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹𝑻𝑶𝑾 will support historically underrepresented visual artists who explore, cultivate, and expand queer print culture. coming soon.💧🩵 thank you @combssethj #undertoweditions

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒔𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕? Entering the space, we are met with disco-ball adorned cowboy boots, cascading levity through refracted light, but also violence and danger—the spurs as weapons or necessary protection. Storey is underlining the importance of nightlife in gay history—the party as sanctuary and resistance. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒔𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕? is both a recreation and commemoration of the iconic cowboy boots at Denver western gay bar, Charlie’s. This space remains a critical institution for queer history, collectivity and joy, and fosters the catharsis and transcendence of dance. —Rory Fitzgerald Bledsoe @whoizrory

𝑲𝒆𝒏 𝑮𝒐𝒏𝒛𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒔-𝑫𝒂𝒚: 𝑩𝒐𝒏𝒆-𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝑩𝒐𝒚 Ken Gonzales-Day’s Bone-Grass Boy: The Secret Banks of the Conejos River constructs a fictional “nevermade” historical artifact in response to debates around AIDS, gay and transgender rights, immigration, the border, multiculturalism, and mixed racial identity in the late 1980s and early 1990s, at a time when work by Latinx artists was rarely exhibited. Set during the U.S.-Mexican War, the project follows Ramoncita, a Native/Latina two-spirit person, and Nepomuceno, a soldier, as they move through histories of displacement and violence. Through photography, performance, and narrative, the work challenges dominant histories of the American West and unsettles the boundaries between fact, fiction, and “evidence.” @kengonzalesday 𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒔 is on view at @bestpracticeok til june 13💛

𝑨𝒎𝒚 𝑨𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒓: 𝑱𝒆𝒇𝒇 𝑩𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒐𝒏 𝑩𝒐𝒙 𝑪𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔 Amy Adler’s Jeff Burton Box Covers considers the charged afterlife of images, drawing from adult film box covers photographed by Jeff Burton and encountered through the worn, handled shelves of Circus of Books, the West Hollywood gay bookstore and pornography shop. Burton began his career as a photographer in the adult film industry before his work crossed into the art and fashion worlds. Adler made these drawings from a position of proximity and difference: she and Burton were close friends and neighbors in Silver Lake, and a walk together to Circus of Books revealed the video box covers he had shot. For Adler, the encounter opened a charged space of queer identification, urging her to draw images made by a gay man, circulating in a world she would not likely inhabit herself. In 2007, Adler stopped photographing and destroying her drawings and began drawing directly on canvas; these works are among the first from that shift. Here, drawing becomes a kind of ventriloquism: a way of occupying another, impossible body, while marking a major turning point in her practice. @aamyadler 𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒔 is on view at @bestpracticeok til june 13💛 photos by @crossandswitchblade

thank you to everyone who came out to the opening of 𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒔 at @bestpracticeok now on view thru june 13✨ Amy Adler, Ken Gonzales-Day, Cat Gunn, William E. Jones, Morgan Lieberman, Stephen Milner, Darian Newman, Matt Savitsky, and Joe Yorty BEST PRACTICE is pleased to present RUINS: PERFORMING QUEER HISTORY, curated by Nathan Storey. RUINS is an iterative exhibition of interdisciplinary artists reckoning with queer histories, archives, and loss within their contemporary studio practices. The artists in RUINS unearth LGBTQ+ histories, search for fragmentary pieces, and reimagine queer constellations. Archives are alive, pulsing with history, memory, and ruin. Simultaneously, they are fragmentary, evoking a longing for a time and place you cannot name. Archives bridge the past, present, and future, symbolic of the inevitability of our time slipping away, even as artists continue to gather, repair, and reimagine its remains. This second iteration of RUINS surveys intergenerational California-based artists whose works explore queer embodiment, intimacy, and space across drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and painting. Spanning 1994 to 2026, the works in the exhibition trace queer history across generations, media, and shifting cultural contexts. California emerges here not only as place, but as a charged network of sites, bodies, and relationships: Black’s Beach in San Diego, Circus of Books in Los Angeles, The Stud in San Francisco, and other intimate social worlds of chosen family, collaboration, and desire. photos by @crossandswitchblade

about last night! 𝑰𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒏 on view at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art🖤 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐌𝐈𝐗 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 @bmoca

UNDERTOW is ecstatic to present recent collaborations and new titles at Printed Matter’s 2026 LA Art Book Fair ★ RECENT COLLABORATIONS ⋆｡°✩ @rude_polaroids @three6sashiaa @josephimhauser.studio @briankennny @sxxbyswxst @abundant_commodities @lavender_zines NEW UNDERTOW TITLES ⋆｡°✩ ☆UNDERTOW Boxes ☆Notebook Fragments ☆BACKCOUNTRY ☆They Disappeared Toward The Water ☆Imagine His Joy As The Sun ☆Photo Memories ☆A Night, A Thousand Days ArtCenter College of Design Thursday May 7 — Sunday, May 10, 2026 📍Booth G11 #LAABF2026 @printedmatter_artbookfairs @printedmatterinc

𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒔: 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 BEST PRACTICE is pleased to present RUINS: PERFORMING QUEER HISTORY, curated by Nathan Storey. RUINS is an iterative exhibition of interdisciplinary artists reckoning with queer histories, archives, and loss within their own contemporary studio practices. The artists in RUINS unearth LGBTQ+ histories, search for the fragmentary pieces, and reimagine our queer constellations. This second iteration of RUINS surveys intergenerational California-based artists whose works explore queer embodiment, intimacy, and space across drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and painting. The exhibition includes work by Amy Adler, Ken Gonzales-Day, Cat Gunn, William E. Jones, Morgan Lieberman, Stephen Milner, Darian Newman, Matt Savitsky, and Joe Yorty. OPENING RECEPTION Saturday, May 2 5 to 8PM @aamyadler @kengonzalesday @mango__hot__sauce @thechromaticsheep @stephenmilner #williamejones @bettyfordcenterofficial @mintymedia @joejoejoe_yorty

BEST PRACTICE is pleased to present RUINS: PERFORMING QUEER HISTORY, curated by @___nathans . RUINS is an iterative exhibition of interdisciplinary artists reckoning with queer histories, archives, and loss within their own contemporary studio practices. The artists in RUINS unearth LGBTQ+ histories, search for the fragmentary pieces, and reimagine our queer constellations. This second iteration of RUINS surveys intergenerational California-based artists whose works explore queer embodiment, intimacy, and space across drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and painting. The exhibition includes work by Amy Adler, Ken Gonzales-Day, Cat Gunn, William E. Jones, Morgan Lieberman, Stephen Milner, Darian Newman, Matt Savitsky, and Joe Yorty Archives are alive, pulsing with history, memory, and ruin. Simultaneously, they are fragmentary, evoking a longing for a time and place you cannot name. Archives bridge the past, present, and future, symbolic of the inevitability of our time slipping away. There is a current movement of queer artists looking backward and engaging with various queer archives or legacies within their contemporary studio practices. This deep preoccupation with the queer archive is, in part, due to the lingering and residual effects of the AIDS crisis, an utter catastrophe ignored and perpetuated by the United States government, leading to the loss of an entire generation—a crisis, which 45 years later, is still not yet over. The urgency of this archival engagement is now inflamed as the Trump Administration again attempts to erase and remove all traces of queer and gender expansive histories, which we know have always existed in any histories of America. The afterlife of ephemera becomes a tactic of resistance. To perform queer history, to grapple with our collective pasts, allows us to look toward our queer futures. 📸 Mouth Held Open, William E. Jones, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery @aamyadler @kengonzalesday @mango__hot__sauce @thechromaticsheep @stephenmilner #williamejones @bettyfordcenterofficial @mintymedia @joejoejoe_yorty @luisdejesuslosangeles @davidkordanskygallery #sdartsandculture

back in Taos for the end of winter ★

i’m ecstatic to receive the inaugural Southwest Contemporary Artist Grant🧡 the Southwest has been very meaningful to me these past few years and i cannot wait to be a part of the Fall 2026 publication. @swcontemporary Southwest Contemporary publishes curated and critical perspectives on contemporary arts and culture throughout the Southwest, supports Southwest-based artists and arts organizations through our print and digital platforms, and produces events and programming to advance creative work.

i am very honored to receive Printed Matter’s 2026 Shannon Michael Cane Award. see you soon Los Angeles💜 @printedmatterinc @printedmatter_artbookfairs The SMC Award is granted to emerging artists (artists, artists’ book publishers, or collectives in the early stages of their career) who would be first-time exhibitors in a Printed Matter Art Book Fair.