Edgar Hartley

Lives and works in Hyde Park, New York, USA

Artist statement

As a Queer Buddhist artist of the 21st century, one distinct way I see the world is heavily influenced by queer sexuality and the struggles of marginalized queer people. My work often employs the agency of the naked male form as a vital part of the vocabulary of queer artistry, especially for gay men. My goal is to inspire acceptance in others and the importance of cultivating and fighting for queer culture as distinct from homogenizing societal influences. Through my work, I hope that viewers will see the value of queer expression as it is and identify those hidden personal biases surrounding morality and decency. Lessons in letting go of condemnation. But particularly, and most fundamentally, my view is shaped by the profound Buddhist teachings of Svatantrika Yogācāra-Mādhyamika (Middle Way Mind Only) and the premise that we are constantly arising in each moment as completely new beings, that our individual universes arise, dissolve, and arise again through the power of our own thinking. The corollary: we can change our phenomenological experiences by changing our intentions. This is not religion. There is no dogma but the observation of the mind. My work digs in to how we as beings fit in to this foundational process of perception and transformation of our worlds. How we experience. No separation between observer and observed, but still an exploration of all those realms we interact with, our inner and outer landscapes. The karma of gayness or humanness or wetness. The...

Artwork