The Flash Is Headed to Sedona!
I’m excited to share that my painting The Flash has been accepted into The Big Gay Art Show 2025: Exhibition and Sale at the Sedona Arts Center. This annual event is more than just a gallery showing—it’s a vibrant, unfiltered celebration of LGBTQ+ creativity, identity, and expression. And now, The Flash gets to be a part of that story from June 6 through July 25.
🖼️ More info about the show can be found here.
If you’ve seen my work before, you already know I don’t shy away from vulnerability or sensuality. I lean in. With The Flash, I wanted to play with the idea of what we choose to reveal—and when. This piece features a removable modesty magnet, a physical invitation to interact, uncover, and explore the tension between public perception and private truth. It’s cheeky. It’s daring. And beneath that surface energy, it speaks to something those in the LGBTQ+ community know well: the quiet (and not-so-quiet) negotiation between exposure and protection.
I created this piece in collaboration with the ever-fabulous @11.jayb.85, whose courage, body confidence, and magnetic presence shaped the soul of this work. Thank you, J, for trusting me to translate your form and spirit into a painting that both celebrates and challenges.
While this exhibition centers LGBTQ+ voices, I also want to say something personal:
I don’t care how anyone identifies—publicly or privately. Use pronouns, or don’t. Share your truth, or hold it close. I believe in the freedom to define yourself, or to remain undefined. We each walk our own path, and every point of view deserves space. That belief is woven into every brushstroke of my work.
The Big Gay Art Show is a unique space where artists like me get to bring queer narratives front and center—not diluted, not coded, but joyfully, beautifully, boldly true. It offers a platform for voices across the spectrum to be seen, heard, and celebrated. And in a world that still often asks queer artists to tame their truth, that kind of space is not only refreshing—it’s necessary.
Let's all just love each other, okay? If not love... at the very least be kind and do no harm.
I’ll be sharing more as we get closer to the exhibition in June 2025, but for now, I just want to take a moment to celebrate this milestone. This is for everyone who’s ever felt like they had to hide a part of themselves. The Flash is about reclaiming that part, one creative expression at a time.
—Ali
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