FREE ADMISSION

50 States: TEXAS centers on a little known 1895 novel written and published in Texas that features American fiction's first lesbian heroine and extremely progressive discussions of homosexuality.

 Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas and Wyoming represent the first four developments of the ongoing 50 States project. Artists Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin have traveled across the country to inspire their work, retracing historical events and discovering LGBTQIA+ histories predating the 1969 Stonewall riot that launched the modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement. The exhibition includes immersive multi-channel video installations, prints, photographs and intricately hand-cut works on paper which layer LGBTQIA+ imagery over “found” road maps the artists came across during their travels.

 “These installations explore astonishing people and their stories, and the broader role that LGBTQIA+ folk have played in influencing the identities of each state,” Margolin said. “The 50 States project is an effort to make ballads out of real histories, and to use our power as artists to bring the emotional and complex humanity behind our community’s historical narratives.”

 Based in Houston, Texas, interdisciplinary artists Vaughan and Margolin have had solo exhibitions at Devin Borden Gallery, Art League Houston and Aurora Picture Show. They are recipients of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, a Tulsa Artist Fellowship, and grants from the MAP Fund, The Idea Fund, and the Houston Arts Alliance. The artists are currently developing 50 States: Arkansas, which will debut March 2019 at The Invisible Dog in Brooklyn, New York.

 50 States: Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas and Wyoming is on view at the OSU Museum of Art Feb. 12 - June 29, 2019. In conjunction with the exhibition, performances will explore the themes of each individual state installation. All exhibitions, performances and events at the museum are free and open to the public.

 
More about 50 States: https://museum.okstate.edu/50-states