"Csoke's brushstrokes are looser and airier than the refined, smooth texture academic oil painters would strive for. And his addition of slender rainbows-a symbol of the LGBTQ+ unity and pride-infuses an element that seems playfully at odds with the paintings' original intent to show the owner's status or virility. Instead, the scenes' secondary characters take the main stage, emotionally dealing with what it means to not only come to terms with one's own sexuality but the nature of queer community."
"For example, in "Puppies Fighting Over Homosexuality," a diverse group of dogs, ostensibly showing strength and loyalty, gnash at one another. A diminutive rainbow hovers between them, the tiny emblem embodying joy and pride while also being a source of division and misunderstanding-just like the way sexual orientation and gender continue to be important yet schismatic issues in society today."
Pastoral scenes and still lifes from the 18th and 19th centuries used animals and game to symbolize prestige, masculinity, and virility. Scott Csoke repurposes dogs and other animals from those genres into acrylic paintings that function as expressive avatars of queer experience. He uses looser, airier brushstrokes and adds slender rainbows—symbols of LGBTQ+ unity and pride—to subvert original status displays. The works foreground secondary characters as emotionally active figures negotiating sexuality and community. Pieces range from combative scenes like "Puppies Fighting Over Homosexuality," where a diminutive rainbow divides, to celebratory works like "A Concert of Gay Birds" and somber memorials such as "Dead Gay Crane."
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