Laurence Myers Reese

Watercolor on Arches

22x30”

2020

The Facts

Watercolor on Arches

9x12”

2019

6x6”

oil on panel

2020

Oil and Black 3.0 on Panel

5x8”

Watercolor and Gold Leaf on Panel
2017
8x10”

Watercolor on Panel

2019

10x8”

Oil on Panel
2016
12x12”

These images were created using a dream AI. The dream AI uses a neural network, drawing from data across the internet. I input search terms like “queer jew” and “transgender Judaism.” What results is a series of images (selected and manipulated by me) that map commonalities and fractures among images of queer Judaism. On their own, they are not art. Grouped together, curated, selected, and manipulated by hand, however, they become visual identifiers of abstract ideas.

Gazing at the AI generated images like clouds, one can see skin, body hair, interrupted by a pentagram-star-of-david-hybrid. Images of what look like abstracted text and mock Hebrew letters poke out from rainbows and seas of pinks.

If we are to use these data points as indication as to what is important to transgender or queer jews, we see an emphasis on the “corpus” - both the body and the body of texts. These AI-generated images serve as a companion to the work I am doing in engaging in building a transgender Talmud.

Watercolor and Pencil on Panel
2017
5x5”

Watercolor on Panel

2019

12x12”

Watercolor and graphite

2018

11x14

Castro St. Your Place or Mine?

Watercolor

2018

11x14

The Ecstasy of St. Theresa
Watercolor on Arches
2017
22x30”