Shanequa Gay | McColl Center

Contents:

• ATLANTA GAY ARTIST’S QUT ENDS DISVERY OF KEH HARG ART
• HOMETOWN PRI AND SORROW OVERLAP SHANEQUA GAY’S ARTWORK
• GAY ATLANTA
• ART + ARTISTS

ATLANTA GAY ARTIST’S QUT ENDS DISVERY OF KEH HARG ART

” —Betsy RileyShanequa GayPhotograph by Johnathon KelsoShanequa GayArtistIn March and April of 2020, Atlanta artist Shanequa Gay found herself on timeout wh the rt of the world. There, agast a stark whe wall, Gay pated happy imag of Taylor’s face, showg her as “someone who was loved and is worthy of jtice and beg seen.

Bis planned exhibs at the Atlanta Contemporary’s Atlanta Biennial and Le Mon Bossale Montreal, Gay plans to spend the balance of 2021 ntug to look ward, g Kev Quashie’s The Sovereignty of Quiet, as a reference exhib ia that’s gradually takg form: the ways that Black women have rated their hom. Matthew Terrell, noted wily Atlanta for his amazg photography work for the natnally crilly acclaimed “Legendary Children” exhib featurg many of the cy’s emergg drag queens, took his art another directn when he cid to rearch everythg he uld on Keh Harg, the world famo, gay and HIV-posive artist whose work is stantly regnizable.

Snail for the HuffPost Gay Voice blog. On a few of the album’s tracks, Act -wrote wh gay micians Sam Sparro and Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters. His sophomore release om that year, Hi Nothg, was a lovely surprise.

HOMETOWN PRI AND SORROW OVERLAP SHANEQUA GAY’S ARTWORK

And whether he’s kept a low profile sce then bee he’s livg his life or bee ’s hard for an pennt mician to get tractn this world, he’s still the pg ballaer wh which a young gay man might fall love. Yet back the ’70s was slim pickgs for openly gay artists, and we all knew how to read an artist that ma a joke about beg “bi-astal” (he even named an album that) while throwg himself across the stage like a hyperactive chore on a Broadway belter like “I Go to R.

Long before I knew they were all gay (except for Cdy), I loved them for their crazy sound.

GAY ATLANTA

The late blu sger was well-nnected and openly gay the ’60s — he had a brief relatnship wh Dave Davi of The Kks. They’ve taken on gay social media apps (“Personal” om 2006 and “Lookg” om 2019”) and love to ms around wh gay clichés (“But I’m a Top”).

Currently on her mea culpa tour (for, amongst other thgs, supportg Tmp) and tryg to get the foc back on her mic, this mouthy bisexual MC threw away a lot of goodwill by turng her reer to a spectacle of wrong-footedns — her e of slurs agast gay men has been wily reported. Somewhat lost to history, Bean found the clive Uny Fellowship Church Movement and was rponsible for the early gay lib anthem “I Was Born This Way. Known for a quick w and sharp tongue, Belli followed up an unexpectedly short stt on Season 4 of RuPl’s Drag Race wh hilar mic parodi of pop hs that mocked Chick-fil-A’s anti-gay polics (“Chow Down (at Chick-fil-A)”), praised well-endowed men (“Love You Like a Big Schlong”) and skewered secret bedroom submissiv (“That Boy is a Bottom”).

Wh three albums and some EP’s beneath him, he’s ripe for disvery by the ward lookg and sensive gay boys who flock to, let’s say, Baths and Chris Garne. Asie dark-pop/dance artist dog his b agast homophobia and for his love of Charli XCX.

ART + ARTISTS

Or, at least, a cult act, whose unflchg honty and betiful tenor uld soundtrack the wet dreams of many buddg young gay boys lookg for a “Half-Boyiend” or a breathtakg partner to leave you bereft (“Rob Me Bld”). Diagnosed 1982, when the nascent plex was still lled “gay-related immune ficiency, ” Callen was — sence — a first rponr.

Yet between his activism, thorship (How to Have Sex an Epimic: One Approach), journalism, and actg (Philalphia, Zero Patience), he found and sang wh the gay apella group The Flirtatns (“Everythg Possible”) and released one solo album, Purple Heart (“Talkg Old Soldiers”), while he was alive. Brooklyn-based gay electropop artist formerly dog bs as SEE is about to make a nt wh her latt sgle “Girliend.

Yet more die rock and punk, this time om another all-female Philalphia tr who do a stellar versn of New Orr’s “Age of Consent” and released a solid sophomore set wh 2017’s New Kd of Normal (“B Ticket”). Newfangled alt-rock solo artist enjoyg the liberti of beg a queer artist whout that nasty homophobic backlash (or, at the very least, not as much of ).