Art Is Awesome with Emily Wilson

Chloe Sherman - Photographer


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Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. 

This week, Emily features photographer Chloe Sherman, who shares her journey from Portland to San Francisco and her role in capturing the queer community of the 90s. Chloe's work, which portrays a time when the city's rents were affordable and its social spots thriving, has been exhibited internationally and highlighted in a well-received book. The episode also details how Chloe's daughter's social media efforts during the pandemic brought greater visibility to her art. The conversation delves into Chloe's inspirations, daily routines, and creative influences, with a mention of her show 'Renegades' at the Leica store in San Francisco. 

About Artist Chloe Sherman:

Chloe Sherman (b. 1969, New York) is a San Francisco-based fine art photographer known for her vibrant portraits of queer life in San Francisco during the 1990s. As a vehement visual chronicler, Sherman captures an intimacy and vibrancy that brings a unique subculture to life, even decades later. 

Sherman received her degree in fine art photography from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1999, during which time she began documenting a generation of young self-identified Queers. The community became family, and she reveled in their collective creativity, support, pride, and their strident defiance of cultural norms. This was the catalyst for an entire body of work that would go on to be recognized and shown internationally. 

Sherman’s photographs, all shot on 35mm film, offer a window into an era of defiance, freedom, resilience, and tenderness, shedding light on the energy of San Francisco at a time when it was brimming with possibility. Her images are a throughline, anchoring viewers to a moment in Queer history and immortalizing moments of gender experimentation and joy.

Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at F³ Freiraum für Fotografie (Berlin), Schlomer Haus Gallery (San Francisco), Kunsthalle Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Leica San Francisco, and The Diego Rivera Gallery (San Francisco). She has been published extensively in Nothing But the Girl (ed. Susie Bright and Jill Posner; 1996), RESEARCH: Angry Women in Rock (Juno Books; 1996), Out In America (Viking Press; 1994), Rolling Stone Magazine, Interview Magazine, Deneuve, the Advocate, and the New Yorker. Sherman’s work is a part of the permanent collections at The National Gallery of Art, SF MOMA, and those of private collectors. In 2023, Hatje Cantz Verlag published a monograph of her work, Renegades: San Francisco – 1990s

Visit  Chloe's Website:  ChloeShermanStudio.com

Follow Chloe on Instagram:  @ChloeDSherman

Learn more about her Renegades exhibit at Leica Store San Francisco, CLICK HERE. 

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About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:

Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California MagazineLatino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.

Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil

Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast

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CREDITS:

Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson

Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions

For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com 

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Art Is Awesome with Emily WilsonBy Emily Wilson with Go-To Productions