Meet the Artist: Aris Cumara

May 27, 2026

Some art asks to be admired. Some art asks you to look a little closer. The work of Aris Cumara lives somewhere in between — playful, intimate, and quietly provocative in ways that linger long after first glance. With a practice that feels equally interested in beauty, embodiment, and the stories we project onto objects, Cumara’s work slips easily into SHAG’s universe: sensual, curious, and deeply human. We caught up with the artist to talk inspiration, influences, creative practice, and the work currently on view at SHAG.

SHAG: Where are you from? Where are you based now?

Aris Cumara: I am from Columbus, OH, and I am currently based in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

SHAG: What is your medium?

Aris Cumara: For this show, oil painting on canvas!! I also paint murals, engage in photography, write, and play music!

SHAG: How did you get started making art?

Aris Cumara: Most of my life was spent as a musician. I’ve been singing and playing music for just over 20 years. I never had an interest in pursuing the visual arts until I got hired as a mural apprentice at Colossal Media Group. They taught me all the basics of color theory, paint, form, style, and more. From that education, I began to practice and paint in my own time to build up a personal body of work. I now feel confident as a painter, and I am continuing to practice and grow in my craft.

SHAG: What inspires you/your art?

Aris Cumara: As a queer and Trans person, I spend a lot of time in erotic and kink spaces. It allows for a very beautiful de-mystification of the body, sex work, and the world of toys and pleasure. The work that I've made of bodies and sex toys comes from wanting to showcase this world in color and paint, in a way I don't often see represented.

SHAG: What role does art play in your life?

Aris Cumara: Art is everything. I would have no life if not for art. I push myself to engage in as much art from as many different mediums as possible. Every day I am listening to music, playing music, watching tv and film, listening to podcasts, going to museums, dancing when I can, painting when I can, and doing all of this with people I care about. Art gets us out of our phones and heads and connects us to the world. Art is life, and the feelings that art gives you are the feelings that make life worth living.

SHAG: Tell us about the work in the show at SHAG.

Aris Cumara: This particular body of work stemmed from an Erotic Art Bazaar I did a few years ago. I had already been painting small pieces in DVD cases for a few months, and decided to try painting things more in the world of eroticism: sex toys. When I heard about the call for a show at SHAG, I knew pieces like this would be perfect to showcase in the shop, and was able to expand this body into something worthy of displaying in the shop. Outside of the smaller pieces, I wanted to try my hand as some larger oil still-life's, which are not my usual style of painting. The larger pieces I made for this show came out of an attempt to combine the sex toy genre of painting with traditional still-life's painted in antiquity. All together, it made a cohesive body to show.

 SHAG: Who is your favorite artist and/or artwork?

Aris Cumara: I have a few! In the world of painting, I am a big fan of Zdislaw Beksinski, a Polish horror-surrealist who painted very colorfully haunted pieces that seem to be from another world. In music, I am a huge fan of Joey Batey and Madeleine Hyland of The Amazing Devil, an Irish-gothic folk group that rarely puts out new music and tours even less frequently. They have some of the most poignant lyrics and melodies of any folk group writing today, and their album The Horror and the Wild is worth a listen for any music fan. In theatre, the work of Rabbitfoot Puppetry in Chicago has been some of the most transformative and original storytelling I've had the pleasure of seeing. They are a puppetry performance group that put on local puppet shows unlike anything I've seen before.

SHAG: Do you have a favorite piece of your own?

Aris Cumara: In 2024, I painted a small mushroom in a DVD case that I spent way more time working on than I needed to, and the rendering came out better than I could have imagined. I am proud of the shape, the form, the colors, and everything else that it makes me feel. It's small, but I will never part with it.