In the Galleries: A.B. Miner

A.B. Miner's paintings and drawings take things that are usually hidden from public view and make them "bring to light." Some of the works now at Gallery Kayafas employ self-portraiture to spark dialogue over the gendered body. The self-portraits are intimate in scale and content, they are conceptually and emotionally charged, and they expose vulnerability by revealing what he (and many people) hide from the outside world -- inner turmoil and body irregularities.

Miner, a trans man, is frustrated with contemporary Western society's binary views of gender based on "average" male and "average" female bodies, leading him to research how masculinity manifests in other species. Before his move to Boston, Miner discovered and photographed an undocumented, offsite collection of the National Museum of Natural History, simply labeled "Smithsonian Institution Penis Collection." Two series evolved from Miner's research in these natural history museum collections.

Miner is now the assistant curator of contemporary art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

A.B. Miner: "Bringing to Light"
Gallery Kayafas
Through November 29, 2014
450 Harrison Avenue #37
Boston, MA 02118

Singersfrontx633_0 Singing Silence (Mystery I - IV), oil on linen on wood, 8.5" w x 11" h, 2014 (frames with translucent plexi are part of work)

Unveiled-2_2012x633_0 Unveiled 2, 16" h x 20" w, oil on gessobord, 2012