PATRICIA SWEETOW GALLERY is thrilled to present Our Lady of the Bathhouse, beaded jacquard tapestries by John Paul Morabito.
Presenting this extraordinary series offers more than a window into Morabito’s life and studio practice, it reveals an effective propaganda tool of early church and state: tapestries. Begun in 2018 and completed in 2020, Morabito unveils their series of religious tapestries with a subtle but explicit intervention, cloaking 15th- and 16th-century Renaissance paintings of Madonna and Child in flamboyant colors of drag—a Queer allegory turning sacred to Camp. Morabito remediates devotional paintings by artists such as DaVinci and Botticelli with accentuated day-glow colors and a stigmata presentation shimmering with gold beaded fringe. With this joyful celebration of sensorial imaginings, Morabito deftly reframes and reclaims the historic stigmatization and hypocrisy of the Catholic Church through queer transubstantiation.
Opening Reception:
Saturday, November 1, 3–5:30pm
Artist Conversation:
Saturday, November 1, 2pm
The Weaving of an Icon, John Paul Morabito and Patricia Sweetow
Please RSVP for seating!
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday - Saturday
11am – 6pm