Ahead of a new exhibn at Kapp Kapp gallery, photographer Stanley Stellar remisc about gay life at the much-mythologised New York piers the 70s and 80s
Contents:
- HE CAPTURED A CLANSTE GAY CULTURE AMID THE DERELICT PIERS
- A LOST UTOPIA: STANLEY STELLAR’S PORTRAS AT NEW YORK’S “GAY PIERS”
- LIFE FOR HOMELS GAY AND TRANS TEENS NEW YORK CY
HE CAPTURED A CLANSTE GAY CULTURE AMID THE DERELICT PIERS
* the piers new york gay *
At the same time, the fight for the rights of gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr people, spurred by the 1969 Stonewall rts, was lerally transformg the cultural and social landspe of New York Cy. Gay men sudnly felt ee to sunbathe on the piers naked, cise, and have sex public. While artists llaborated to transform the buildgs of Pier 34 to makhift art studs and exhibn spac, gay men were nvertg Pier 46 to what Delmas Howe lls an "arena for sexual theater.
He is thor of Male Dire: The Homoerotic Amerin Art and Ambn and Love Morn Amerin Art, and edor wh Alejandro Anrs and Diana Ln of The Social and the Real, also published by PSU Prs. By the 1960s, the massive piers along Manhattan’s Hudson River wateront that projected to the water stood largely abandoned and easily accsible om Greenwich Village, which gay men were begng to take over. In the ’70s and ’80s, the piers beme a popular spot for gay men to sunbathe naked beneath huge murals by artists like Gtav “Tava” Von Will.
What this space lacked fort and ameni for timate liaisons, ma up for by providg the anonymy gay men required at the time to survive. Today at the Llie-Lohman Mm of Gay and Lbian Art, an exhib will open that explor the importance of one of Manhattan's most stori and beloved gay landmarks: the Wt si piers.
A LOST UTOPIA: STANLEY STELLAR’S PORTRAS AT NEW YORK’S “GAY PIERS”
Before was a playground for the rich, Manhattan's fartht-wt reach were the stompg ground of young gay men creatg art and lookg for sual enunt * the piers new york gay *
Featurg over 70 imag, the show aims to look at the docks of the Hudson River as a haven for artists and gay people. In the post-Stonewall era, the new-found eedoms were swept up to a changg soc--polil and historil landspe that gave rise to the gay rights movement.
The New York Piers, where many gay New Yorkers gathered the late 1960s and 1970s, where the new sexual eedoms were often played out, beme the crossroads for an emergg gay subculture and for artists of that perd. Infamoly, many gay men went to the abandoned piers near Christopher Street lookg for sex, or as a place to hang out and sunbathe durg the summer months. Gay men want to nnect, and they will gravate toward those plac that allow them to do so, even if they’re lotns others would shun or fear to set foot.
LIFE FOR HOMELS GAY AND TRANS TEENS NEW YORK CY
Twenty percent of Ameri's homels youth are gay or trans. * the piers new york gay *
“It’s a show about three gay piers, ” Stellar told AnOther.
In the cy, gay men uld only meet at night, the dark, clubs or bars. Homo History wr “ The piers were dangero; several men fell to their aths through the rottg floors and there was also the ever prent threat of beg robbed by dg addicts, attacked by gay bashers or arrted by the NYPD.
The Piers: Art and Sex along the New York Waterontis the first mm exhibn to foc exclively on the of the Hudson River docks by artists and a newly emergg gay subculture. It monstrat how the gay liberatn movement, spurred by the 1969 Stonewall rts, transformed the cultural and social landspe of New York.