The Simple Things

Wes Hempel has long been known for his elaborate, conceptual works that place male figures in art-historical settings, re-envisioning what the cannon of fine art might look like if homosexuality had been accepted and included.

While nude figures still figure prominently, much of his latest work, which will be on display in an upcoming solo show at George Billis Gallery in Connecticut, embodies the simple pleasures of process and beauty.

As a young artist, Hempel was working through the rejection of his own homosexuality by his conservative family, and art was an outlet to process his own experience and in a sense, a form of activism.

“That was my whole big project in the beginning,” he says. “I wanted to see if I could re-present the male figure as it may have looked if homosexuality wasn’t vilified. The older I get the less interested I am in the political world altogether. Also, in my case, from the time I started painting to now, the whole culture has undergone a vast change. What felt like a real energetic push toward something that needed to be said or done…I no longer feel that urgency at all.”

His recent work features the male figure in seascape settings that reflect his upbringing in Los Angeles and considerable time spent in Hawaii.

Hempel is finding the shift away from conceptually complex works liberating.