Curriculum Vitae
Arlo Blackthorn
(He/Him) | Visual art under the moniker Z.F.
B. 1998, American
Education:
2016 Early College Forensics Program, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
2020 BFA - Visual Art & Film, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2028 MFA - Creative Writing, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA [Degree in Progress]
Exhibitions:
2025 Sunset Pride, Hunt & Gather, San Francisco, CA
2024 Heavenly Bodies, Divine Minds, Queer Arts Featured, San Francisco, CA
2024 Exoskeleton: You Cannot Return to the Dirt, ATA Window Gallery, San Francisco, CA - Solo Show
2024 Sunset Pride, Hunt & Gather, San Francisco, CA
2024 Headliner at the Mulligan Film Fest, The RiverFront Playhouse, Aurora, IL
2024 Object, Subject, Setting, The Academy SF, San Francisco, CA
2024 New Bohemia NYE 2024, The Old San Francisco Mint, San Francisco, CA
2023 TerrorBall, The Old San Francisco Mint, San Francisco, CA
2023 Kaleidoscope: A Master Class In Collage, The Academy SF, San Francisco, CA
2023 Art For The Sick, Moth Belly Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2023 Dissonance Within the Fog, Alchemy House, San Francisco, CA
2023 Sunset Pride, Hunt & Gather, San Francisco, CA
2023 SuperFine San Francisco Art Expo, Gallery 308 at Fort Mason Art Center, San Francisco, CA
2022 Let Them Eat Fake, Liminal Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2020 SAIC Film, Video, New Media, Animation and Sound Festival, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL
2020 Voices Embodied: Convergence, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
2018 This Place Has Everything, Free Range Gallery, Chicago, IL
2016 Featured Upcoming Artist, Dick Blick Art Supplies, Paramus, NJ - Solo Show
Performances & Lectures:
2024 Almost-Public/Semi-Exposed IX, ATA Window Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2023 Artist's Demo at the Fall Equinox Inner Sunset Art Walk, Hunt&Gather, San Francisco, CA
2018 “Dis/ability” Panelist, The Leroy Neiman Center, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2016 Visiting Artist's Demo Series, Dick Blick Art Supplies, New York, NY
Publications:
2025 “Surveillance State,” Illustration, Semioculus XX, published by Semioculus Gallery, Tartu, Estonia
2024 “Bloody Marry,” Photography, Fantasy Mag, published by Figs' Fantasy, San Francisco, CA
2023 “Drone,” Illustration, Semioculus XVII, published by Semioculus Gallery, Tartu, Estonia
2018 “The Push,” Essay, The Queer Foundation Scholar, Portland, OR
2017 “Young God,” Comic Zine, self published, Quimby's Bookstore, Chicago, IL
2016 “Low on Morality,” Comic Zine, self published, Quimby’s Bookstore, Chicago, IL
Events:
2024 - 2025 "Queer Constellations," Event Organizer and Co-host, Queer Arts Featured, San Francisco, CA
Press:
2025 - Semioculus XX | 2024 - Almost-Public/Semi-Exposed IX | 2023 - Semioculus XVII | 2020 - Voices Embodied Project: Convergence: Fnewsmagazine - Voices Embodied Project - Voices Embodied Project ZF | 2018 - Dis/ability at SAIC | 2018 - This Place Has Everything
Artist's Biography
Blackthorn's interdisciplinary practice spans widely through visual art, performance film, and writing. In his work he explores the ways his disability, queerness, and Hellenic faith interact with a hostile world, through the lens of colorfully macabre surrealism. Most of his work centers the body, and packs in subtle symbolism to visually tell a story of the ways the body can betray when perceived, elevating the "loss of control" through the medium of grotesque beauty. He was previously making work under the moniker "Z.F."
Blackthorn received his BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago(2020). He has shown his work in several major cities including San Francisco, CA(2022-25) and Chicago, IL(2018,2020). He has work hanging at Queer Arts Featured, San Francisco(2025). His illustrations have been published internationally in “Semioculus”, Tartu, Estonia(2023,2025). He has also been outspoken about disability rights as a former member of The Student Disability Alliance at SAIC, and was a guest panelist in "Dis/Ability" at The Leroy Neiman Center, Chicago, IL(2018). He is currently based in San Francisco, CA.