Shadows of Beauty

THE DAVID GARY LLOYD PHOTO EXHIBIT AT 255 ALHAMBRA

BY ELVIS FUENTES

David Gary Lloyd presents his solo exhibition of photography, “Garden Shadows of the Sun,” in the unconventional space of the lobby of the 255 Alhambra building. It is an exquisite series of color and black and white photographs that, in his words, “explores the hidden, coded, and resilient expressions of queer identity against the backdrop of South Florida’s landscape.” Palm and royal poinciana trees, peacocks, flamingos, flowers, and butterflies abound alongside human models. One is reminded of John Singer Sargent and his stunning watercolors over a century ago.

Although Lloyd often conceives his works as installations of numerous pieces extending organically both vertically and horizontally, the limitations of this space forced him to present them as single pieces, diptychs, or triptychs – but without losing their impact. On the contrary, it could be argued that this isolation has given some of his pieces greater force. Let’s look at two examples.

“Touch of the Monarch” is a haunting allegory of transformation and the delicate threshold between grounded strength and ephemeral ascent. A muscular male back fills the frame, sculpted with soft light and shadow. Resting gently upon the curve of his shoulder is a monarch butterfly – its wings poised in stillness.

The composition suggests a metamorphosis: the butterfly reads not simply as a visitor, but as an extension of the body itself, as though its wings might soon unfurl from the skin and lift the massive figure beyond the frame. It evokes the Classical myth of Icarus – not in failure, but in the sacred instant before the leap. The body becomes a vessel for grace, the butterfly a symbol of a soul awakening to its potential to rise. Thus, “Touch of the Monarch” becomes a portrait of possibility, of beauty taking root in the body, and the body, in turn, growing wings.

In the diptych, “I Became Both,” the viewer is presented with another tender yet charged metaphor for transformation, one that elegantly balances playfulness with paradox. On the left, a flamingo folds into itself, serene and singular, its elegant neck curved like a question mark. Opposite, the taut forearm of a man is raised, tattooed with the image of a feather morphing into a sword, an emblem that flickers between softness and strength, flight and fight.

Transformation, in this image, is not simply about becoming something new. It is about holding contradiction. The man does not abandon the feather for the sword; he is the feather and the sword. He is the flamingo and the arm that lifts skyward. Lloyd plays with this doubling with the title itself – “I Became Both” – a quiet declaration of metamorphosis without erasure.

This is a portrait of queerness not as dichotomy, but as union: grace coexisting with defiance, tenderness with strength. The ink on the arm is permanent, yet it depicts flight. The flamingo, so often caricatured for its flamboyance, here rests in solemn poise, a silent teacher of balance. Through this pairing, Lloyd suggests that identity is not fixed, but performative and poetic. We are the creatures we admire, the myths we wear on our skin, the gestures that stretch toward something unknown. And sometimes, in the act of becoming, we carry both the feather and the blade.

For an artist, a solo exhibition is an exercise in courage because it is also a moment of vulnerability, and the public will judge and determine the reception of his work. Lloyd transformed this axiom into a poetic gesture by presenting his unframed photographic prints without the protection of glass. A printed skin that breathes. This visceral quality resonated with some viewers who complained about works depicting naked male torsos.

Censored by his host, David Gary Lloyd did not choose to remove his images or protest on social media, but instead grew new branches of the Garden, covering the homoerotic subjects with that same proverbial Florida shadow that enamored Sargent, with its delicious play of veiling and revealing.

Elvis Fuentes is an art critic and historian currently serving as Executive Director of Coral Gables Museum