Darius Kian is a proud Queer Persian-Canadian artist on the stolen land of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) also known as Vancouver, BC, Canada. His practice explores the intersection of identity and culture while envisioning new approaches to politics that emerge from bodies living in the diaspora. Kian’s practice particularity addresses themes of queerness and masculinity by problematizing the prevalent societal understanding of queerness and masculinity and raising questions on what bodies are perpetually erased from representation and the social implications that arise when these bodies are afforded the social grandeur of figurative painting. Primarily working with the medium of oil painting, Kian attempts to appropriate and invoke the historical significance of this medium in its depiction of erotic, sublime, and monumental subjects’. By invoking the codified visual language present in historical figurative paintings in his portrayals of queer, fat men of colour, Kian cements their likeness and agency in the contemporary canon of figurative painting while also challenging the meanings ascribed to these bodies in both the enclosed gallery space and the outside world.