Big Gay Art Show honors LGBTQ artists - Sedona Red Rock News

Contents:

• THE BIG GAY ART SHOW 2023 – EXHIBN AND SALE
• THE BIG GAY ART SHOW
• BIG GAY ART SHOW HONORS LGBTQ ARTISTS7 M READ

THE BIG GAY ART SHOW 2023 – EXHIBN AND SALE

Barbara Kat'Only Tony': Portras by Gilbert LewisPennsylvania Amy of Fe Arts, PhilalphiaPhilalphia artist Gilbert Lewis is a longstandg fixture of the cy’s art muny, but his sensive portraure work has th far been unrexposed at lol mms, spe s importance the natnal lexin of gay male art. Via The Man Library & Mm; New YorkShroud mystery, artist Rick Barton ptured his wildly diverse subjects a web of pen-and-k l and was fluential among a small group of fellow gay Beat movement artists 1950s and ‘60s San Francis. 9'Tuntenhs Forellenhof 1990: Gay Communism’s Short Summer'Schwul Mm; BerlInstallatn view of Tuntenhs Forellenhof 1990: Gay Communism’s Short Summer.

Peter Runkewz / via Schwul MmOn the first May Day after the fall of the Berl Wall, about 30 gay men occupied an apartment buildg the cy’s Friedrichsha neighborhood and created what beme the Tuntenhs Forellenhof, a utopian llective of munist queers. The enigmatic actor, art llector, gay activist, globetrotter, and doyenne of the SoHo scene has, along wh his late partner J. Together, the pair found the Llie-Lohman Mm of Gay and Lbian Art—the first stutn of s kd—which is down the block, on Wooster, unassumg Llie happened to poke his head out to the hallway to terme the e of the ck; before he uld shut the door, a group om the art magaze I worked for had charged their way through.

This somewhat jad crew of crics was ankly awed to fd every available surface the dky, crimson Prce Street loft absolutely vered—let me repeat: vered—wh explicly homoerotic art all styl and media, cludg var se-specific murals. At the start of his and Lohman’s llectg days, more than 60 years ago, “gay imagery was unfortunately the hands of pornographers exclively, ” Llie lamented.

THE BIG GAY ART SHOW

Photo by Max Burkhalter for wi-rangg llectn gently illtrat the changg landspe of public gay life and the civil rights advanc crementally gaed sce he began discreetly buyg homoerotic art the 1950s. It is only the last three s that homosexualy has gaed legal protectns the Uned Stat. When the llectn began to take shape, sodomy was outlawed ( still is several stat), and gays uld be refed service at bars and other there were numerable challeng to gog about buildg such a libido, Uranian llectn.

Much like homosexualy self, gay art was hidn away—tucked the back rooms of galleri, wh entry granted by s and vert nods passed between figur who had to read the other as part of their circle.

Generally, homoerotic works “were ma for iends, ” Llie said, and they’ve only more recently been g to the market. He ced the Amerin artist Pl Cadm, “a very charmg man” he knew through gay circl Cann. Born the remote town of Deadwood, South Dakota, 1933, Llie had saved enough money by the time he was 17 to take a b to Los Angel, where he enuntered his first gay muny.

BIG GAY ART SHOW HONORS LGBTQ ARTISTS7 M READ

After his two-year stt was up, Llie enrolled the Sorbonne Paris before travelg throughout Europe, livg Venice and Amsterdam, known as the gay pal of post-war Europe. Tipped off by a iend, Llie “found a ltle old ticky-tacky shop, ” as he relled, that trafficked the sale of homoerotic art.