Artist Joey Terrill joins James Glisson, Chief Curator, SBMA, in conversation to discuss his activism, philosophy and artistic practice. Terrill is a second-generation native Angeleno, whose work combines influences from pop art, Mexican retablos, 20th-century painters like Frida Kahlo, as well as Chicano and queer culture particular to Los Angeles. Recently on display at SBMA in the exhibition Friends and Lovers, his painting Still-Life with Triumeq and Wrapped Candies that Remind Me of the Artist Félix González-Torres (pictured above) comes from an ongoing series of still life paintings that center HIV medications amongst a variety of household items, atop a kitchen table covered in a sarape-a nod to the artist’s Mexican heritage. 

Terrill is a longtime AIDS activist and was involved with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the Metropolitan Community Church, the Gay Community Center, and the Gay-Ins at Griffith Park in the 1970s.