Éamon McGivern is a painter from San Francisco who over the last seven years has painted portraits of Bay Area Queers, punks and poets. More recently, he has been delving into the archives of twentieth century LGBTQ+ history, picking up strands from holes in the historical narratives in an attempt to darn the tears between the past and present wrought by political oppression, transphobia and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. McGivern’s work feeds into the sorrow borne from the absence of the Queer and Trans people who would have been the teachers, mentors, parents and grandparents of his generation and the effect their deaths have on contemporary life.

McGivern holds a BFA with honors in Painting from the Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, New York) and an MA in Fine Arts from the Chelsea College (London, United Kingdom). He is a two-time recipient of the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Individual Artists Grant and a former artist-in-residence at both the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (Omaha, Nebraska) and Residency 11:11 (London, United Kingdom).

About his show, Legible to Desire:

"If you are familiar with Tom of Finland’s work you may recognize some of the faces within the paintings in this show. About half of the paintings are based on photographs of Tom’s friends and lovers here in L.A. I am fascinated by the vast gap between the photographic images of these men and the fantasies they became through Tom’s drawings. By posing for Tom’s camera, they offered themselves up to his erotic imagination where everyone is youthful, impossibly fit, well endowed, masculine, virile and versatile. The homogeneity of his figures creates a kind of egalitarianism where violent societal power structures collapse.

It’s easy to see the appeal of this fantasy world, when in reality we must navigate the collective erotic imagination informed by class, race, age, body type and gender presentation. Whether the scripts associated with the roles we inhabit align with or are antagonistic to our desires, we all contend with how our bodies are perceived. These paintings are an exploration of how we as queer men grapple with the archetypes available to us in order to make ourselves legible to the desires of other men."

"Legible to Desire" Opening Reception | July 31, 2025

By Tom of Finland Foundation

"Legible to Desire" Opening Reception | July 31, 2025

Come celebrate Queer artistry from our latest Artist-in-Residence!