Pride Art Expo: PEEKABOO

During Pride Amsterdam, various art exhibitions are taking place throughout the city. Enjoy and celebrate the diversity, strength and beauty of the LGBTQI+ community during the Pride Art Route.

Zjef van Bezouw (1960) is as a Dutch mixed media artist/designer and curator. His designs and artwork span performance art, environments, fetish-wear, and shoes. He graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and studied at DASARTS for Theatre Design. He lived and worked in NYC from 2011-2019 and currently works between Amsterdam and Portugal. Under his alias ZJEFWORKS, he specialises in creating multi-sensory experiences by transforming spaces, designing leather goods and curating art exhibitions into happenings that “burns onto your retina”. He has been hosting several art exhibitions, also for PrideAmsterdam where he had his pioneer roots in the 90s. In 2019, he moved to Portugal from where he launched and now operates BoaBoa, an arts & culture initiative.

Carlos Marló, graduated in contemporary dance and in fashion styling, is a visual artist seeking new challenges. He uses different techniques however specialists in the manual collage technique as a means of expression to create/tell new stories, decontextualizing and giving a second life to already existing images, with references that come from pop culture, mythology, religion, punk movement, classical art, fashion, gay/queer scene or fetishism. During PEEKABOO, Marló will also create live collages.

Arjan Spannenburg is a prominent artist whose work focuses on social issues and social change. His artworks are exhibited internationally and appreciated for their profound message and aesthetic power. Spannenburg is known for his poignant artworks that illuminate social issues. His work, which challenges viewers to reflect on prejudice and discrimination, is an inspiration for change. This exhibition, focused on LGBT+ acceptance, is no exception. The artworks will invite reflection and discussion, celebrating the diversity of the human experience.

The Kings & Queens-project (K&Q ) is an internationally acclaimed photography series depicting drag performers with their other halves: themselves. Each image features the same individual in and out of drag. Their true selves are laid bare: portrayed with love, in self-juxtaposition, and constructed using highly precise photo montage techniques. The result is an intimate representation of the subject lovingly embracing, or being embraced by, their other self: a self that may be discriminated against in the wider world, but is here exalted as equal.

MAMABIRD is the alter ego of Dyan van Staveren from Rotterdam, she is an artist and creative at heart. After owning a beauty/styling salon for many years, since June this year she is now going to use her makeup brushes mainly to make photo-realistic paintings, Barbie and other toys being her creative inspiration. Playing and toys have always had a big role in her work. First this was mostly play in the nightlife and now for a few years in her painting.

The sheer beauty of the sea. Femke Krol is boundlessly inspired by it. The beauty and symbolism of shells - which stand for birth, sexuality and rebirth - are the source for her works of art where the energy and color burst forth. With her work, Femke creates a very personal, enchanting world that draws you in. Marc Amsterdam shows work constructed from printed cocaine envelopes containing images that refer to the famous 17th century Delft blue tiles with archetypal Dutch scenes.

Renata Dutrée is a Dutch lensbased artist who graduated from The FotoAcademy Amsterdam (2019) and Erasmus University Rotterdam, Dermatology (1992). She creates FineArt portraits by combining use of light with references to symbolism, religion, art, and history with recurring themes of hiding and/or revealing and the feminine versus the masculine. Personal stories and emotions of her models are combined with the artist’s own experiences as a medical doctor.

For the eighth year during Queer and Gay Pride Amsterdam in the Ramses Shaffy house the exhibition of the nominated and winning photos of MOREPIXX? the international gay fetish photo competition. Photographers from all over the world, both amateur and professional, have submitted their gay fetish artwork to compete for the best photo of 2024. Their work covers the entire spectrum of expressions in the gay fetish world, such as leather, rubber, sportswear, bondage, SM.

A shameless exhibition that is about the inside and the outside of the human body, about its beauty but also about illness, infirmities, decay and other intimate matters. External body decorations such as necklaces, rings, bracelets, piercings and gemstones, including diamonds. But also inside the body; like implants and prosthetics. The basis is vintage photography of the sensual male body. Through painting, photo collage and embroidery, an extremely aesthetic image is brutally created, especially of physical defects that we often prefer not to discuss.

7 artists have joined forces to put together a diverse exhibition for Amsterdam Pride. Be overwhelmed by the explosive compositions of Ariya Razmjou. Immerse yourself in the appealing scenes of Eva Gans. Count the muscular torsos in Farzin Kavaji's sculptures. Turn around and step into the colorful universe of Kaidusa. Marvel at the beautifully complex works of Liaisan Musina. Forget Vincent van Gogh! it's the reflections of his great-grandnephew Lieuwe that you must see and also Mylo Freeman touches you with her beautiful paintings.

Drag artists are often asked to be photographed while removing their makeup. But when the clothes come off, the photographer is usually long gone. Photographer Remon van den Kommer, however, stays nearby to see the true person behind the queen - naked & proud. Compiled by Taka Taka & Jennifer Hopelezz.

In the Protest2Pride exhibition, IHLIA examines the Roze Zaterdag protests of the 1980s and 1990s through the lens of photographer Marian Bakker. Marian zoomed in on lesbian subcultures, but her photos also show who else was fighting for lhbtiq+ rights during this period. They paint a time picture of the 1980s and 1990s, how these people dressed, their perspectives, their strategies and how they paved the way for the Pride celebrations we know today. Marian's photographs act as a nuanced historical record, a contribution to our collective memory and understanding.

Victor is a queer artist whose work explores and questions the complex realities of our modern society. Through photography, videography and installation art, he reflects on current themes of community, Internet culture and unwritten rules of behavior in an increasingly surveiled world. With a fascination with the rise of the surveillance society, he explores its implications for privacy, individual freedom and self-expression. The work serves as a mirror, confronting the viewer with the constant presence of spectators and the potential consequences associated with this.