CHASE ALLEN

Raleigh, NC | chaseallenart.com

As a white gay man who takes part in the Ballroom Scene, a culture created by and for queer people of color, and also as a white artist who creates art within the mainstream culture that is derived from ballroom, I am aware of my position of privilege and my position as a sort of bridge between the mainstream and celebrated and the underground and overlooked. I often find myself having to explain to people what ballroom is and why it is important.

Many white artists have shamelessly appropriated from ballroom for their own gain while offering the culture little in return. It’s my desire to instead do all within my power to afford the ballroom community the respect, credit, and resources it deserves. I could not have made this art if not for the many black and brown queer artists who have inspired me and contributed to the art form of vogue, like Willi Ninja, Leiomy Maldonado, Kassandra Ebony, Dashaun Wesley, Kevin JZ Prodigy, Sinaia Alaia, and countless others.

I draw and paint what I love and what gives my life meaning.

I have always loved to dance, though for years that love was stifled by external and internalized homophobia. In high school I rekindled that love when I discovered and began practicing the dance style known as vogue fem.

I later learned of the broader culture that birthed voguing, known as the Ballroom Scene a.k.a. Ballroom Culture. Ballroom is a Black and brown LGBTQ+ subculture that for decades has created space for some of the most marginalized people in the U.S. to transform their pain into art, and glamour, as a form of resistance to their ongoing oppression.

I have had the great fortune to become a part of Ballroom Culture through my love of voguing. In the scene I perform at balls as a member of the International Haus of Daniel Del Core, and outside the scene I create drawings and paintings, including the ones in this exhibition, that seek to capture the glamour, dynamism, and aesthetics of voguing.