Gay Semtics Revised | Aperture | Sprg 2015

Contents:

• “GAY SEMTICS” REVISED
• HAL FISCHER: GAY SEMTICS
• HAL FISCHER’S GROUNDBREAKG PHOTOS OF GAY LIFE IN SAN FRANCIS FD PERMANENT HOME
• HAL FISCHER: GAY SEMTICS: A PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY OF VISUAL CODG AMONG HOMOSEXUAL MEN
• HAL FISCHER: GAY SEMTICS
• HAL FISCHER: THE GAY SEVENTI
• GAY SEMTICS
• GAY SEMTICS REVISED
• HAL FISCHER: GAY SEMTICS AND OTHER MAJOR WORKS

“GAY SEMTICS” REVISED

In 1977, San Francis photographer Hal Fischer produced his photo-text project Gay Semtics, a semal examatn of the “hanky ” ed to signal sexual preferenc of cisg gay men the Castro district of San Francis.

HAL FISCHER: GAY SEMTICS

He also photographed a seri of “gay looks”—om hippie to leather to wboy to jock—wh text that poted out key elements of queer street-style. Bryan-Wilson: What strik me now about Gay Semtics is how nceptual is, how important the photo-text relatnship is.

Bryan-Wilson: Gay Semtics is an attempt to map some of the disurse of stcturalism onto the visual s of male queer life the Castro.

Bryan-Wilson: In your biblgraphy for Gay Semtics, you ce Walter Benjam, but not Roland Barth.

HAL FISCHER’S GROUNDBREAKG PHOTOS OF GAY LIFE IN SAN FRANCIS FD PERMANENT HOME

Bryan-Wilson: You’re dog several thgs Gay Semtics. On the one hand, you’re parsg a signifitn system that arose out of a nonverbal, erotic exchange, and you’re also nstctg gay male self-fashng and photographg “archetyp. There’s fely a fairly homogeno i that’s beg taloged.

For both the good and the bad, actually reprented gay male masculy the Castro this time, which was not diverse. For stance, the Village People buted 1977, the same year as Gay Semtics, and they embodied but also parodied gay archetyp. I was myself, at that pot, very cril of the gay photographers who were workg the cy.

For stance, Gayle Rub starts her work 1978 at the Castro, studyg and theorizg leather subcultur. Bryan-Wilson: You ma a few projects after Gay Semtics but then stopped takg photographs. Bryan-Wilson: How do you feel about the way Gay Semtics has been received more recently?

HAL FISCHER: GAY SEMTICS: A PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY OF VISUAL CODG AMONG HOMOSEXUAL MEN

All imag by Hal Fischer om Gay Semtics, 1977© and urty Hal Fischer, and Cherry and Mart, Los Angel. The gay utopia that seemed to beckon 1969 lasted only a , but mt have been wild to be part of the 1970s. Bryan-Wilson: Let’s go back to how Gay Semtics has been revised.

HAL FISCHER: GAY SEMTICS

Bryan-Wilson: Has Gay Semtics bee a rerd of loss and grief regardg HIV/AIDS? Exhibns of the Gay Semtics seri and a reprt of the 1978 monograph renewed tert his art and generated numero articl, published terviews, and reviews. Hal Fischer: The Gay Seventi, which featur his major works, was published by Gallery 16 Edns 2019.

Fischer’s 1977 seri Gay Semtics, brought the theori to bear on gay culture San Francis’s Castro and Haight-Ashbury districts. For stance, imag of men wh handkerchiefs their pockets feature text that explas the possible meangs of the ems acrdg to the “hanky s” that gay men ed to nvey sexual preferenc, but which also pots out that the men uld be rryg them for blowg their nos. Other imag the seri nsir gay fashn, media stereotyp, and BDSM culture.

Viewg his famo photographic seri—Gay Semtics (1977), 18th near Castro St. X 24 (1978), Boy-Friends (1979), and Cheap Chic Homo (1979)— light of earlier work mak clear that Fischer’s ncerns wh portraure, homoeroticism, formal experimentatn, and the tensns between word and image, were prent nascent form at the start of his reer. A retrospective view likewise amplifi the viewer’s appreciatn of Fischer’s signature visual w: his imag of gay SM inography document a sexual subculture while also provokg amement.

HAL FISCHER: THE GAY SEVENTI

Fdg himself “at the center of the gay universe, ” he began creatg more ankly sexual photographs. Together the velopments led to his inic photographic seri Gay Semtics, which the subterranean s and signia of gay cisg are elevated, not whout irony, to a prehensive sign system. His photographs of 1970s gay male life pture a pre-ter era, before onle datg profil, hook-up s, or Grdr.

Fischer’s imag subtly reveal how gay men’s visual s for telegraphg sire ronate wh—but also clash wh—the visual s of photography.

GAY SEMTICS

His books clu: Gary Snyr and the Amerin Unnsc (1991), Beyond Sexualy (2000), Homosexualy and Psychoanalysis (2001), A Time for the Humani (2008), Unlimed Intimacy: Reflectns on the Subculture of Barebackg (listed the “Top 10 Books of 2009” by), Porn Archiv (2014), and Hatred of Sex (2021). CHERRY AND MARTINA Photographic Study of Visual Codg Among Homosexual MenText by Hal Fischer's Gay Semtics: A Photographic Study of Visual Codg Among Homosexual Men (1977) is one of the most important publitns associated wh California nceptual photography the 1970s.

This new edn�reproduc the look and feel of the origal volume, which renfigured to a book format the 24 text-embedd imag of Fischer's 1977 photographic seri Gay Semtics. The photographs Gay Semtics prent the s of�sexual orientatn and intifitn Fischer saw San Francis's Castro and Haight Ashbury districts, rangg om such sexual signifiers as handkerchiefs and keys to pictns of the gay fashn "typ" of that era--om "basic�gay" to "hippie" and "jock.

GAY SEMTICS REVISED

" Gay Semtics also featur Fischer's cril say, which is marked by the same wry, anthropologil tone found the image/text�nfiguratns. Fischer's book circulated wily, fdg a worldwi dience both the gay and nceptual art muni.

HAL FISCHER: GAY SEMTICS AND OTHER MAJOR WORKS

First published as an artist's book 1978 by NFS Prs, at a time when gay people had been forced to both evaluate and fend their liftyl, Gay Semtics earned substantial cril and public regnn. �Thirty-seven years later, the book remas a proactive statement om a voice wh the gay muny om a moment history jt before the vastatn wrought by AIDS. Featured image is reproduced om 'Hal Fischer: Gay Semtics.