Clearly Queerly Coded by Guy James Whitworth

‘Queer coding’ is often a technique used in mainstream culture, such as movies, books or even computer games to subliminally suggest a character or a situation contains some element of queerness. These implicit clues can take any form, such as the subtle mannerisms of a character, covert dialogue, background posters on a wall or even lighting design (trust me, bisexual lighting in movies is definitely a real thing!)

This July, Surry Hills based artist Guy James Whitworth presents those subtleties and sneaky traits within an exhibition of new artworks, that, to anyone not looking for such visual clues, would be just appear to be expertly rendered, rather romantic still-lives of flowers and landscapes.

However, that these paintings often include rainbow colours and overtly dramatic flourishes, does kind of give the game away, but since Whitworth is actually one of Australia’s most established Queer artists, primarily known for his bold, brightly coloured nude portraits of the LGBTQIA+ communities, (he is also the host of Sydney’s weekly Queer Sketch Club) perhaps the clues were there all along.

If you are a fan of bold, colourful art with a message and subtle (and not so subtle) Queer sensibility this exhibition is definitely not to be missed!