CORTNEY MANSANAREZ IS IMMORTAL

Courtney came to IMMORTAL nervous. Not about the quality. About the cultural gravity of what he was bringing into the room. And then he did the thing great artists do: he stopped trying to “get it right” and started trying to be true. In this new interview, Courtney (@absalom_fineart) talks about the pivot that changed everything—how soul-searching and Mexican heritage collided with his ballet background (Swan Lake, the one he never got to dance), and how he rewrote that story into a darkly romantic, Día de Muertos–charged legend: lovers, a trickster, bird-into-man transformation, intimacy, and that classic queer ache where beauty and death hold hands a little too tightly. Then there’s the part that hits: walking into the first queer art fair in Mexico City and feeling “overwhelming” in the best way—because when queer community is actually assembled, the room starts to breathe. It gets organic. It gets real. It gets… dangerous to your old excuses. This one is about cross-cultural flow, trust, and the moment the work stops being “content” and becomes a mirror. Now streaming on: Substack (written feature + video), Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and right here on our socials. And yes—we’re recruiting. TBQA is building the 2026 season (Art Week / Pride / Día de Muertos). If you make work that risks tenderness, risks pleasure, risks truth—apply. We don’t need perfect. We need alive. Apply link in bio. #TheBureauOfQueerArt #TBQA #ImmortalArtFair #IMMORTAL #QueerArt #QueerArtists #LGBTQArtists #QueerCurators #QueerCulture #ContemporaryArt #ArtInterview #ArtistInterview #QueerPodcast #SubstackCreators #MexicoCityArt #CDMXArt #DiaDeMuertos #QueerMexico #ArtWeekCDMX #ArtFair #ArtistCall #OpenCall #CallForArtists #ApplyNow #CrossCultural #BalletToVisualArt #SwanLake #QueerLove #QueerJoy #QueerCommunity