The Lamar Dodd School of Art is pleased to share that the work of MFA Candidate Forrest Lawson has received notable attention and was recently featured on Artsy.net and Southern Spaces. 

Lawson’s work has recently been featured in the exhibition, “Existimos (We Exist)” which can be found online at Artsy.net. Originally slated for a gallery exhibit in Proyecto Galería, Mexico City, this online exclusive is a group exhibition focused on LGBTQ+ artists and artwork, curated by Micheal Swank. The exhibition will be on view through October 31, 2020, and brings together queer voices. 

“Queers have been erased from historical records throughout history. The revolutionary chants of the Stonewall riots, the reclamation of the word queer during the ACTUP activism of the 80s, and the continued fight for visibility have contributed to awareness and acceptance of groups existing outside the sexual and gender norms. However, today as we present this show there are forces at work to remove advancements and reset history to its limited view of the lives we lead. Existimos brings a community of queer artists voices out of the shadows to transgress, transfigure, transpose, transform, and transcend the limitations of a binary world where queer becomes a verb and not a noun.” 

In his feature on Southern Spaces, a peer-reviewed, multimedia journal published by the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship, Lawson and Queer Intersections series editor Eric Solomon discuss the evolution of Lawson’s art, which "explores the array of complexities experienced by individuals within the gay community." The feature is an edited version of a series of Zoom conversations. 

In their wide-ranging conversation, Solomon asked Lawson about growing up gay in Florida, the origins of his artmaking, his artistic influences, moments of shared LGBTQ+ trauma which motivated much of his art, how he’s learning to integrate queer joy and other positive affects in his subject matter, and how the current pandemic has shaped his artistic exploration of loneliness.

Forrest Lawson is an Athens-based multi-media sculptor. He is best known for his assemblages dealing with issues presented within the LGBTQ+ community. Growing up in Florida, he blends the experience of southern conservative living with his experience as a gay man. He is currently an MFA student at the University of Georgia and earned a BFA in Fine Arts from the University of Central Florida. Lawson has shown his work in numerous group exhibitions, and in 2019 he was honored with the Grand Prize of ArtFields in Lake City, South Carolina. From June 2–27, 2020, his work was on display in “Eros, C’est la Vie,” a show “celebrating queer artwork and artists” at Gallery 110 in Seattle. Gallery proceeds from this show will be donated to Gay City in Seattle, and Lawson will donate his personal proceeds to Black Visions Collective.