Arcadia #1
J. Carino is best known for large-scale, vibrant works that explore the connection between queer bodies and nature. Inspired by his own gay identity and love of nature, Carino’s practice focusses on depicting queer people as a physical part of the landscape. He does this to reject that idea that members of the LGBTQ+ identity are unnatural, reimagining them as inherent to nature.
Carino’s monotypes carry his recognisable vibrance and joy, but on a smaller, more intimate scale. Rather than heavy layers of detail semi-camouflaging his figures, for these new works they appear as vibrant brushstrokes – still figurative, but with less definition.
The works are based in Hampstead Heath, an iconic queer space in London where gay lives are synonymous with nature. Carino continues to merge LGBT+ iconography with natural forms and joyous colours, enhancing the connection he aims to create and cement in his work. He used a similar palette in his sell-out 2025 screenprint, Lovers.
J. Carino’s monotypes will be on the RHODES Editions stand (S13) at London Original Print Fair, 14-17 May. Email us to find out more.
