Mason Weiss is GlogauAIR resident
from October, 2022 to December, 2022
Mason Weiss creates beaded and textile sculptures to explore his relationship with being queer. His experience of metamorphosis as a transmasculine person influences his practice where he engages with topics relating to transformation.
Untitled is a contemplation of coexisting feminine and masculine forces in nature. Jellyfish challenge the concept that the only two natural sexes are male and female: different species include hermaphrodites (both sexes) as well as ones that have the ability to change sex (sequential hermaphroditism).
Meet the Artist
What is your name and where are you from?
Mason Weiss, Los Angeles, California, USA
When/ how did your art practice begin …. Do you think where you’re from has affected your work?
I consider my art practice beginning in childhood. I have memories of drawing and beading (with the same kind of beads I use to this day) at my kitchen table as a young child. My parents have always supported my creativity. I think being from Los Angeles has definitely influenced my work. I have been exposed to a wide variety of art due to LA being such a central art city. There is also a large LGBTQ+ community where I am from, so feeling accepted for my gender and sexual identities as I’ve developed into who I am today has had a large influence on how I carry myself and affects my work.
How has your practice changed over time?
In many ways, yes. My practice is very much a diary for me, so as I experience more milestones as I age, my work continues to mark those moments and grow with me. Transformation is central to my practice. With that being said, my most essential ways of making have not changed all that much but have developed in complexity. Beading and sewing are my main techniques. The repetitive motions of these crafts have always brought me into a meditative state that has become a familiar and cathartic experience from the first time I began experimenting with those materials and techniques.
Do you think your art has evolved being a different environment E.g. Do you think GlogauAIR / being in Berlin has influenced your work?
Yes. Being in a new city and outside of the USA for the first time has broadened my horizons and opened up my eyes to new perspectives and experiences. Getting to be around other artists who are so passionate and dedicated to their practices has been inspiring and motivating. Also, getting to connect with the Berlin LGBTQ+ community has been entirely heart-warming and also liberating. Being here is a gift.
What are your next plans after your residency?
I will most likely go home with the intention to save up as much money as I can so I can move to Berlin within the next 2 years. I absolutely love it here and want to make this city my home. I also plan on continuing the series I have begun while here and show this new work in galleries as well as collaborate with performance artists.
Statement
My experience of metamorphosis as a transgender person permeates my practice, and so my sculptures act as a tangible story of transformation. I stitch together my queer identity with “women’s work” by combining the figure, self-portraiture, and wearables through the use of textiles and beadwork. By reimagining some of my favorite childhood characters and toys, I utilize a playful nostalgia while traversing my sexuality and gender. Treating myself as both subject and armature, I alleviate the tension between my body, psyche, and desires.
GlogauAIR Project
How do we harmonize the visible and repressed facets of our identities?
With a focus on gender performativity, I will investigate this question by creating masks that illustrate the coexistence of the feminine and masculine in nature. The protective facade of a mask reveals the duplicity of self-presentation; by being given an opportunity of anonymity, the wearer can be empowered to experience uninhibited self-expression.
Connecting with the Berlin LGBTQ+ community will deepen the context of my work by allowing me to explore both historical and contemporary narratives of queer people who inherently challenge gendered societal expectations. Through interviews and research, I will select animals and insects associated with gendered attributes and unify their qualities by stitching together wearable amalgamated forms.
CV Summary
- Weiss has participated in several group exhibitions and had a solo exhibition, “Bare All”, at Oliver Art Center, Oakland, CA.
- Weiss received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture with high distinction from California College of the Arts in 2019.
- He was a third-place recipient of the ArtistGrant.org Grant and received the Diversity Scholarship, Craft Forward Scholarship, and All College Honors.
- Weiss had work in Dab Art’s juried quarterly arts publication and online exhibition, “STORIES”, which focused on the experiences of LGBTQ+ people.
- Anna Dempsey selected his video performance for a group exhibition, “SHAME”, at Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI.
Gallery
