Stephen Irwin: Miss Everyone I Ever Loved

This exhibition served as a humble homage to the work of Stephen Irwin (1959-2010) and his poetic approach to imagery and community. Stephen Irwin was a great connector, maintaining discreet relationships with all members of his community. Louisville ladies that lunch, queer teens, needy labormen—all were friends with Stephen—as were all the artists in his local scene. And each person thought that their relationship with Stephen was the most special. They knew it. Stephen was celebrated for his drawings in which he would selectively rub away the unimportant parts of his beloved magazine pages. There is often a softness, a romantic haziness that one associates with memory. Fading memory. And yet, his artwork operates as a bit of permanence. Stephen, and his legacy, will always be present in Louisville. The works in Miss Everyone I Ever Loved, alternated between Irwin’s delicate erased drawings and rarely exhibited resin and plastic figurative sculptures that allude to bodies and moments barely captured, caught between emerging and disappearing.