Artist Talk: James Horner and the "Making of an American Dandy"

Making of an American Dandy, a solo exhibition and retrospective of artist James Horner, spans more than 40 years of his work, which peaks directly to questions shaping American life as a queer person today:

• What does it mean to come of age — and come into identity — as a queer person across decades of radical cultural change?
• How do we honor the stories of LGBTQ+ communities still fighting erasure?
• How do personal archives become political, historical, and profoundly communal?

At a moment when queer history is being rewritten, challenged, or legislated out of public view, Horner’s work positions the queer archive not as a static record but as a living, breathing practice — one rooted in resilience, humor, grief, eroticism, and radical tenderness.

Making of an American Dandy traces Horner’s life and artistic evolution through paintings, drawings, etchings, videos, photographs, sculptures, and zines. For Horner, the “Dandy” is not a costume or affectation, but a self-fashioned identity shaped by eccentric parents, queer elders, lovers, teachers, and an ever-expanding, intergenerational queer community. His influences — literature, nightlife, theater, travel, fashion, and activism — converge into a visual language that is both autobiographical and socially reflective.

James Horner, I Pledge Allegiance, 2025. Acrylic, glitter glue, quilted fabric on canvas, 28 1/2 × 44 1/2 × 2 in.