Christian Roman is an openly gay first generation Chicanx artist from Texas. Son to immigrant parents, this brown queer artist understands the importance of representation and often tries to show it in his work drawing inspiration from his culture and upbringing.
“To me queer health is most importantly, mental health. As someone who grew up in a rural Texas conservative town, being gay was something that was not allowed. On top of that I also grew up in a catholic Mexican household and my dad was and is very “machista” and full of toxic masculinity, as a result I repressed my sexuality and was in denial throughout my teenage years until I went to college. It wasn’t until I met my gay family at 18 that I finally found out and accepted who I really was. As a result of all the repressed homosexuality in my teenage years I was very sexually active when I was 19, I had to learn a lot on my own but fortunately I had my friend who taught me about safe sex and we would often get tested together. Unfortunately most people don’t have someone to teach them which has lead to many minorities engaging in risky behavior and contracting HIV.
Christian Romano
Working primarily in ink, graphite, colored pencil, and markers; this self-taught artist likes to create vivid imagery inspired by pop culture, porn, music, the fetish scene, and artists such as Tom of Finland and Gil Elvgren.
In his work, you will find hints of many cultures merged into one giving the audience a glimpse into many different worlds often blurring the lines between fantasy and reality or pleasure and violence. A common theme you will find in his work is a demonic entity which according to the artist is a manifestation of all those who have been outcasted or shunned by society.
Artist Biography
My name is Christian Roman and I go by he/him pronouns. I was interested in being a part of this exhibition seeing that I could relate to the quote of “once a day swallow a small sun…” and I thought I would use this opportunity to come out as HIV positive. I’ve been HIV positive for almost three years now and have been undetectable for about two and a half years. I take one pill a day to remain undetectable and often wonder of all the lives that could have been saved in the aids pandemic. I owe my life and health to this one pill and want to help end the stigma around HIV. As a gay brown Latino. I feel it’s my responsibility to represent the black and brown queer community who are more at risk of becoming positive. I currently live in the far north Denton area but consider myself to be a Dallas-based artist. I was born on May 13th, 1992 in the Fort Worth area and was raised in the a rural town in the outskirts of Houston. I’m currently living in a rural town once again in north Texas where I have been inspired to focus on subjects that were very dear to me as a young unknown queer teenager in my rural upbringing.
THIRD SPACE DFW 