Ále Campos (b. 1994, Los Angeles, California) is a multidisciplinary artist and performance maker whose elastic studio practice is anchored in the vernacular of drag and their persona, ‘Celeste’. They generate live performance works that are often rhapsodic and mediated by technology, often involving or unfolding into the mediums of sculpture, sound, text, video and installation. Drag is the lens through which they consider performance making: they consider the stage and its borders, the malleability of the gaze, how to de/construct an image, the various states of in/visibility and how to handle time. Playing with optics and the boundaries between audience and the performing-body, allows them to explore the varying scales of vulnerability. Ultimately, their work dissects the psyche by declaring liveness and performance modalities as the catalyst for moving through states of becoming.
They received a BA from Bennington College (2016) and an MFA in Performance at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago (2022). Their work has been shown at the Hyde Park Arts Center, NO NATION, Comfort Station, Heaven Gallery, Ruschwoman, Chicago Artists Coalition, Jude Gallery, Roots & Culture, Elastic Arts, SITE/less (Chicago, IL), Lane Meyer Projects (Denver, CO), Collar Works (Troy, NY), September Gallery, The 405 Project (Hudson, NY), Kunsthalle Darmstadt (Germany), SS Gallerie (CDMX), BMOCA (Boulder, CO), Pamplemousse Gallery (Richmond, VA), Public Space One (Iowa City, IA), Crab Shack x Fjord (Philadelphia, PA) They’ve attended ACRE Residency and are a recipient of the 2022 James Nelson Fellowship Award at SAIC and the City of Hudson’s Tourism Board Grant (2021). They were a 2023 BOLT artist-in-residence at the Chicago Artists’ Coalition and were named one of the ten New City 2023 Breakout Artists of Chicago.
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They are currently a lecturer in Performance at SAIC and are an active, participating member of the drag and nightlife community in Chicago, currently holding the title of resident performer / co-producer of Rumors, a monthly event that showcases some of the city’s premiere performers and DJ’s.
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