Acrylic and airbrush on canvas
50 × 60 inches
50 × 60 inches
This painting is both a portrait and a conversation across generations.
The face is painted in a style inspired by my father, the way he drew faces and first taught me to see form, expression, and personality through line. Long after he passed away from AIDS, I learned that he had been a gay man. Throughout my childhood, that part of his identity had been hidden from me by other family members.
That revelation changed the way I understood both my father and the silence that surrounded so many lives during the AIDS epidemic.
The painting is a celebration of his creativity, his resilience, and the person he was allowed to be only in fragments. It also acknowledges how far the LGBTQ+ community has come in the ongoing pursuit of equality, dignity, and visibility, while recognizing that the work is not finished.
This piece is my way of honoring my father, not through grief, but through paint. His influence remains in every line I draw, and his story continues to shape the work I create.
— Devin Ruiz
