Burly Esque

Burly Esque, 2025, Oil on Paper

Burly Esque is my friend. Out of drag, they work at a coffee shop and serve me tea and witty banter. In drag, they inspire me by actually singing- powerfully and operatically. They do what I wanted to, at their age, with a seemingly bottomless well of energy. The older I get, the more I understand that my own identity is not so strictly confined to the physical boundaries of my body. Burly is an artist and so am I. We both absorb and reflect, for better or worse. I asked them to sit for four hours and the painting came about quite naturally with no double takes or touch ups- a performance in its own right. I learned more about my own role while depicting Burly Esque in theirs.