Spectrum

Original Artwork by Gesumino Rulli 

Measures 18" x 12"

Embroidery Floss on Canvas, Framed 

Gesumino Rulli was born in northern Indiana, which is exactly as exciting as it sounds, and now lives in Los Angeles, which is exactly as chaotic as it sounds. Working in hand embroidery on canvas, he spends an irresponsible amount of time stitching queer desire, digital vanity, and the male physique into a medium that has historically been used for far more respectable subjects. He is not sorry about this. His work has been described as domestic yet scandalous, sincere yet unhinged, and grandmother-adjacent in the best possible way. You can find more of his work and general chaos at @Sew_Kinky_Threads.

"As I was scrolling aimlessly online for artistic inspiration, I was constantly being fed an infinite number of beautiful men posting an endless stream of thirst traps. Different man, same pose, same lighting, almost identical jockstrap. All throwing themselves into the void for a fleeting moment of a like, a comment, and a dopamine hit, before the algorithm buries them forever and replaces them with a different but somehow identical man doing the exact same thing.

For a brief moment, I felt the full weight of the human condition. The longing. The futility. The quiet desperation of a species that simply wants to be seen, to be desired, to be remembered. I felt the void staring back at me. And then I thought… 'embroidering flowers is boring. What if I embroidered a big ol’ bulge instead.' 

My work takes these disposable moments of queer exhibitionism and ironically stitches them into a domestic art form usually reserved for nanas making throw pillows and tasteful botanical covered napkins. By poking these thirst traps onto canvas I am giving them something the internet never could: permanence. These men, their bodies, and queer desire deserve to exist beyond the scroll and have a permanence in real life that says, 'we were here'."