Ed Shostak / Rose Royale: "A Queer Perspective From Postminimalism to Social Practice"

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David Richard Gallery is pleased to announce Ed Shostak / Rose Royale: A Queer Perspective From Postminimalism to Social Practice, Selected Works: 1963 – 2020, an exhibition curated by Isaac Aden and David Eichholtz. This is the gallery’s first major exhibition for the artist Ed Shostak who passed away in April of 2020 from the Covid-19 virus.  It is unusual to uncover an artist of his pedigree for which so little is publicly known after establishing himself amidst the visual arts most notable institutions, such as his inclusion in the first 1973 Biennial Exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.  Shostak cloistered himself in his downtown loft relentlessly working and opting for a less mainstream practice. This exhibition is the first look at many of his late works.

For those who are interested in reconsidering the parallel arcs of art history, examining and expanding the boundaries of the established canon of Post War art, Shostak’s work will be a revelation. His work addressed so many of the known formal and conceptual concerns from that period, but through a queer lens. Eventually, he abandoned convention, favoring a more expansive view of the possibilities of what an artist’s practice could include by embracing a queer Social Practice and advocacy for the transgender community, a cause bigger than himself.