H & F Fine Arts is a relatively new art gallery, only having opened this past April, and thus far featuring a few community group shows. With Chimera, the exhibit that opened last weekend, H & F embarks into more streamlined showcasings of particular artists. If you saw the small preview of A. B. Miner’s work at Flashpoint last fall, you’ll know the short trek to the Mount Rainer located gallery for the full effect is well worth it.

Chimera features the last two years of work by A.B. Miner, a D.C. artist who received his MFA from Queens College, CUNY in 2000. Miner’s most recent work is boldly revealing and personal, documenting his gender transformation, including the bodily and emotional changes undergone.

Many of the pieces focus on the changing landscape of his body as it underwent this physical shift. Nine exhibited artworks study the loss of female breasts and growth of body hair during Miner’s gender transition. Taken individually and without labels, one may not notice the context of the work, and may simply think, as in They told me to work bigger … so there (hair growth study-thirteen weeks), that the drawing is a simple representation of a man’s stomach and body hair. However, in context, one more fully understands that this series of ink drawings serve as documentations of change. Furthermore, anyone who has been in a formal art critique can’t help but laugh out loud at the obvious reference in the title of the piece. While each of the four drawings are a mere 6” x 4”, they are matted and framed to form much larger works, each measuring approximately 24” x 36” framed.

Image of Chimera courtesy the gallery.