Thank You: Frank Moore, Together in Art & Activism

Monday, September 24th, artists, activists, friends and lovers gathered at NYU's Fales Library to discuss the art and activism of Visual AIDS archive member Frank Moore whose work is currently on view at the Fales and the Grey Art Gallery. Following the event, the Grey Gallery posted this lovely note on their facebook wall: 

Following Monday’s panel discussion, “Frank Moore: Together in Art and Activism,” presented by Visual AIDS, Marvin J. Taylor, Director of NYU’s Fales Library emailed the participants: “Monday's event was one of the best we’ve ever had in Fales. It was intellectually stimulating and also very personal and moving. I’ve often said that archives are simply the fossil evidence of experience. What is lacking--and, perhaps, what we desire from them--is the humanity, the body, and the emotions of those who are gone. Sometimes, but rarely, we can have a glimpse back into the past and hear that lost voice and feel the emotions once again--no, I'm not getting metaphysical here. I felt Monday's event did just that. I am very thankful to you all for giving all of us a better understanding of this wonderful man.” With many thanks to Marvin for hosting the panel, and to (pictured) our moderator, Barbara Hunt McLanahan, and speakers, Gregg Bordowitz, Joy Episalla, Loring McAlpin, and Harvey Weiss.

We at Visual AIDS, agree! Thank you to Marvin and everyone at the Fales, as well as the Grey Art Gallery, the wonderful panelists, and everyone who came out. 

Please come back to our blog, as over the next week we will be posting images, and highlights from the  presentations. 

Learn more about the exhibitions here: GREY ART GALLERY

Mark Morrisroe: Memento Mori at the ART BOOK FAIR

Copyright 2012 Megan "Montana" Smith; all rights reserved.

Visual AIDS recommends
Mark Morrisroe: Memento Mori
A photographic memoir by Megan "Montana" Smith
Signed, numbered pre-release limited edition of 10
$120 - portion of proceeds to benefit Visual AIDS
NY Art Book Fair (Stand A55)
MoMA PS 1, September 28 - 30, 2012

Visual AIDS is grateful to artist member Rafael Sanchez and Kathleen White of alLuPiNiT and photographer Megan “Montana” Smith for supporting Visual AIDS through the sale of this wonderful photographic memoir of legendary photographer and Visual AIDS artist member Mark Morrisroe (1959-1989). The book is a revealing, tender portrait of Morrisroe from Smith's personal archives, taken during Morrisroe's "punk" years in Boston, and features 31 beautifully assembled photos shown and published for the first time. AlLuPiNiT will also have a selection of Mark Morrisroe’s DIRT ‘zines available at the book fair.

The Bridge & The Devil: Road Tattoo by Steed Taylor

Visual AIDS co-presents:

The Bridge & The Devil

Road Tattoo by Steed Taylor

Sponsored by Visual AIDS and NYCDOT

Naples Terrace Steps: Broadway and 232nd Street, Bronx

On view October 3, 2012 – August 3, 2013

Opening ceremony and reception -  October 3^rd at 11am

Directions by subway: 1 train to 231^st stop, walk 1/2 block north towards 232nd Street to Naples Terrace Steps on left

Visual AIDS is proud to co-ponsor The Bridge & The Devil, a site-specific public artwork by artist member Steed Taylor in partnership with the NYC Department of Transportation’s Urban Art Program.The Bridge & The Devil consists of two alternating, tattoo-inspired designs painted on the public staircase of the Naples Terrace Steps in the Kingsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx. With one design on the step risers, and the other on the step treads, one design is visible walking up the stairs while the other is visible walking down.

The opening ceremony will include comments by the artist and representatives from NYCDOT Urban Art Program, Visual AIDS, and the Bronx Borough Commissioner.  A non-denominational blessing for the artwork and users of the steps will be officiated by Rev. Seamus Campbell of Ecclesia Ministries, New York.

This artwork is part of Taylor’s ongoing “road tattoo” series, which are commemorative, site-specific, community-based, tattoo-inspired, public artworks on roads and other public thoroughfares.

With each road tattoo, Taylor looks for inspiration from the surrounding area and community. The antique gold Celtic knot on the step risers references the neighborhood’s namesake bridge built in 1693, a period embracing ancient Celtic art and culture by the British Monarchy to unify their vast holdings, as well as the local, early Irish settlers whose legacy is felt by the nearby Gaelic Park.  

The neo-primitive tattoo designs on the step treads references the strong and dangerous tidal current of Spuyten Duyvil (Spitting Devil) Creek the bridge spanned.   Rebuilt many times over the years, the bridge was eventually destroyed after the creek's waters was redirected into a shipping channel and the empty creek was filled in. 

Ultimately, Taylor hopes the artwork draws attention to the unique urban history of the area and creates a space for conversation about the never-ending desire to tame and mold New York City's geography to suit our needs.   

Additional road tattoos by Taylor on view include: 

Galloon, North Streeter Drive at Navy Pier, Chicago, IL, June  2012 - May 2013 

Greenburger Family Knot, Old Chatham, NY, 2012 

Frank Moore: Together in Art & Activism

Visual AIDS presents-

Frank Moore: Together in Art & Activism 

Monday, September 24, 6:30 pm 
Fales Library, Bobst Library, NYU 
70 Washington Square South, Third Floor

Join us for an interactive discussion with artist and writer Gregg Bordowitz, artist Joy Episalla, artist Loring McAlpin, and artist and designer Harvey Weiss. Together they will discuss the collaborative and creative nature of Frank Moore’s AIDS activism, paintings, and theater work, including his role in forming The Archive Project and the Visual AIDS Artists Caucus’ creation of the Red Ribbon.

Moderated by Barbara Hunt McLanahan, Executive Director, Judd Foundation and Director Emeritus, Visual AIDS.  Presented by Visual AIDS in collaboration with NYU’s Fales Library and Grey Art Gallery.

Exhibition: 
Toxic Beauty: The Art of Frank Moore
continues thru December 8, 2012
New York University’s Grey Art Gallery and Fales Library
Curated by Susan Harris with Lynn Gumpert

More info on our blog. 

HIV is everywhere: Intern Dispatch from Kristen Munnelly

There is a Transolution, Chloe Dzubilo

Visual AIDS Summer intern Kristen Munnelly shares her thoughts on HIV visibility, and the human connection of art. 

Prior to moving to New York, I was in a Ph. D. program at the University of Michigan studying public health applications of anthropological methods in relation to HIV/AIDS in South Africa. I left my program after my Masters for a number of reasons. Issues of social justice, access, and awareness related to HIV/AIDS remained close to my heart. In my summer interning with Visual AIDS, I could not have anticipated how much I would learn, and how my ideas about AIDS would change. I am thankful for the opportunity to keep these issues in my mind since I am not reading about them every day. Or am I?

One thing I learned, in the words of many of Visual AIDS’ documents and promotion campaigns, is that - “AIDS is not over.” In my interactions with people on a daily basis, I find that AIDS is not an issue most of my friends, or co-workers, or others that I interact with, are thinking about. There is a sense, I think, of complacency – that AIDS is not here, it is elsewhere. It is not part of the self, it is part of the “other.” And even beyond this, it is an issue that “cannot affect me” – rather, it affects someone else. I know that in these statements, I am not saying anything new – many have written on this topic. But I begin to worry when I find myself slipping into this mindset – it is so important to remind myself each day that AIDS is far from over, and its effects are not reductive to transmission events, or public health activity.

Rather, HIV and AIDS have a presence in all areas of life – in the case of Visual AIDS, I found its relationship to art, and artists living with HIV and/or AIDS to be most relevant.  This hit home particularly when I was sorting through some artwork Chloe Dzubilo, the artist, activist, and Visual AIDS archive member. I felt an overwhelming sense of sifting through the remnants of someone’s life; whether this is an accurate statement is up for debate. But it is hard to deny the raw emotion of feeling – wondering so many things about this person – where she lived, who she loved, where she was been born, where she died. It is this connectivity to lived experience that I think, in part, makes us human, and it is something I rediscovered this summer while working with Visual AIDS. For that, I say thank you. 

In 2011, Visual AIDS released No Glove / No Love, a Print + Edition by Chloe Dzubilo and T De Long. To find out more, visit Visual AIDS

Upcoming Archive Member Exhibitions!

For the Birds
Fanciful Follies for our Feathered Friends
by Carlos Gutierrez-Solana & Mary Hays
September 29 - November 18, 2012
Artist Reception: Saturday, October 13, 2-4pm

Voelker Orth Museum
Bird Sanctuary and Victoria Garden
149 - 19 38th Avenue, Flushing, NY
www.vomuseum.org

Marquell Smith, Chicago IL, (Corporal E4, U.S. Marine Corps, discharged under DADT), 2010, Gelatin silver print

Collateral Damage: The Human Face of War
Friday September 7 - December 1
Opening Reception: Sunday, September 23, 10 am to 1pm


Stephen Daiter Gallery
230 W. Superior, Fourth Floor, Chicago IL
featuring work from Samantha Appleton, Vincent Cianni, Ashley Gilbertson, and Stephanie Sinclair.
www.stephendaitergallery.com

Eric Rhein, Unknown Particle, 1993

Abstract Realities
Trends & New Directions in Contemporary Art
September 19 - December 21, 2012
Opening: 6-8pmWednesday, September 19, 2012
Featuring: Frederic Amat, Wayne Bartlett, Jan Davidoff, Matthew Lusk, Eric Rhein, Ellen Sayers, Ryan Foerster

Just Announced! An opportunity for curators, art historians, and arts writers researching HIV/AIDS

left: "New York, N.Y.," 1979, Tseng Kwong Chi, gelatin silver print, 36" x 36"
Courtesy of the estate of Tseng Kwong Chi, © Muna Tseng Dance Projects Inc., New York; right: Courtesy of Visual AIDS

 

Visual AIDS & Residency Unlimited co-sponsored residency for Curators, Art Historians, and Arts Writers

Residency Unlimited, Brooklyn, NY 
Residency takes place February or March 2013

Applications Due: October 22, 2012

Visual AIDS is pleased to announce a new one-month residency, to take place in February or March of 2013, in New York City for a curator, art historian, or arts writer interested in the intersection of visual art and HIV/AIDS. Co-sponsored by Visual AIDS and Residency Unlimited, the curatorial residency seeks to encourage the development of exhibitions, programs, and scholarship about HIV/AIDS and contemporary art.

Residency Unlimited will provide the curator with customized administrative and network support, shared office space at 360 Court Street in Brooklyn and a venue for a public program (lecture/screening/discussion) defined in conjunction with RU and Visual AIDS. Concurrently, the resident curator will conduct research in Visual AIDS' Archive Project, including works from artists living with HIV and the estates of artists who have passed away. Studio visits with artists from the Archive Project are encouraged. The resident curator is invited to create an online exhibition to be hosted by Visual AIDS (view monthly web galleries here).

The resident curator will be invited to produce a free, public event co-hosted by RU and Visual AIDS. Panel discussions, film screenings, performances, or a lecture illuminating the curator’s use of the Archive Project or a presentation of international cultural production around HIV/AIDS are examples of potential programs. The residency includes a $3,000 budget for housing, living expenses, and round-trip transportation to New York.

TO APPLY: Please submit a C.V. and a Statement of Purpose (maximum 2 page) outlining your goals for the residency, any past or current projects that have led you to cultural investigations around HIV/AIDS. Special consideration will be given to applicants living outside of NYC, from locations without support for cultural production about AIDS, LGBT, and gender issues.

Applications are due Monday October 22, 2012.

Applicants will be notified by November 23, 2012.

The one-month residency must take place between February 1 and March 31, 2013.

Send application or inquiries to info @ residencyunlimited.org.

Foundational Sharing & Harry Hay

FOUNDATIONAL SHARING: Queerness & HIV 
Workshop with Ted Kerr, Nelson Santos, and Aldrin Valdez
Friday, September 28, 2012
3:30 to 5:15 pm
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue, NYC

For FOUNDATIONAL SHARING: Queerness & HIV, Ted Kerr, Nelson Santos and Aldrin Valdez will share artwork, writings, and their thoughts about HIV/AIDS, queerness and community related to Harry Hay.


FOUNDATIONAL SHARING: Queerness & HIV is part of RADICALLY GAY: The Life & Vision of Harry Hay, presented by CLAGS and Harry Hay Centennial Committee.  The four day conference explores the multiple facets of LGBT life that Harry Hay himself pioneered. These aspects will be organized around four major themes: the arts, political activism, spirituality and sexual identities. The conference will feature presentations from scholars, activists and artists.  The conference runs from September 27-30, 2012. Conference Registration is required. Click here for a full schedule and to register online.

Images (L-R):
-Derek Jackson, (from The Faeries) #1, 2002
-Albert Winn, (from The Radical Faeries Series), 1986-96


FOUNDATIONAL SHARING was started by Aldrin Valdez and Ted Kerr, as a salon style gathering in which artists, writers, and creative workers share their work in relation to selected text. 
 
CLAGS is the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies provides a platform for intellectual leadership in addressing issues that affect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender individuals and other sexual and gender minorities. As the first university-based LGBT research center in the United States, CLAGS nurtures cutting-edge scholarship, organizes
colloquia for examining and affirming LGBT lives, and fosters network-building among academics, artists, activists, policy makers, and community members.

More Upcoming Exhibitions and Events!

Silvia Poloto Studio Tour and Cocktail Party 

for San Francisco's Visual Aid

September 29, 2012

VIP Reception for Premium Ticket Holders 6:30pm, Cocktail Part / Tour 7:30 - 9:30pm 

Brazilian-born Silvia Poloto is an accomplished artist whose abstract canvases and mixed media sculptures have been featured in Santa Clara, California, Park City Utah, and Portland Oregon. 

Call Visual Aid at 415-777-8242 or email Julie Blankenship for more information: julie@visualaid.org 

Lazio & Shanti, London, 2004, DaVinci Archival Fiber Gloss Stochastic pigment print, 33x23" 

Del LaGrace Volcano: Mid-Career Retrospective 

Curated by Jonathan David Katz and Julia Haas

September 19-November 11, 2012

Leslie-Lohman Museum

26 Wooster Street

New York, NY

Opening: Wednesday, September 19, 6-8pm 

Artist Talk: Saturday, September 22, 2-4pm 

This is the first U.S. museum exhibition of the gender variant artist's 30 year career. A pioneer of LGBT photography, Volcano's work undercuts assumptions about the legibility of gender. Seemore about the show: leslielohman.org

Frenzy into Folly exhibition

Church of St. Paul the Apostle

Corner of West 60th and Columbus Ave

September 14 - October 26, 2012

Opening: Thursday September 20th, 7-9pm 

Enjoy the largest ever contemporary art exhibition in a living church. 

For more information visit: www.exitstrata.com

VA recommends Revolt! Re-Imagine! Occupy!

Visual AIDS recommends:


REVOLT! RE-IMAGINE! OCCUPY!
REPRESENTATION IN POLITICS & ART

Friday, September 21
6-8 pm

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Lobby

Free


To mark the closing of the Occupy Bay Area exhibition, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is pleased to announce a special added program REVOLT! RE-IMAGINE! OCCUPY! REPRESENTATION IN POLITICS & ART. 

This event will be both a panel discussion and forum, intended to ensure dialogue and audience participation, led by writer and art historian Robert Atkins. A unique online component via Facebook athttp://bit.ly/occupybayarea will enable visitors to submit questions, which may be directed to specific panelists or to the audience prior to the date of the panel. Questions may be submitted through September 20.

While the program is inspired by Occupy Bay Area, it also offers an opportunity to discuss larger issues that transcend this particular exhibition’s scope. The most central will involve Occupy’s relationship with art and communications media, and art’s relationship to activist politics in an era of digital communications. For example, if Occupy represents a new political formation, do the representations and strategies it has generated embody similar innovation? 

The panel will bring together an expert, multi-generational group of presenters with diverse perspectives and varied activist experiences. Lincoln Cushing recently organized the exhibition All of Us or None: Social Justice Posters of the San Francisco Bay Area, at the Oakland Museum of California and authored its catalogue. Jeff Jones is an arts fundraiser who has helped shape San Francisco’s multicultural arts funding policies for the past two decades. One of two panelists represented in Occupy Bay Area, graphic designer Jake Levitas is a member of the Occupy Design collective and is the research director at Gray Area Foundation for the Arts. Iranian-born artist Sanaz Mazinani, whose work draws connections to the Arab Spring uprisings, appropriates photographic images she finds online to create artworks (not posters) based on mosaics inspired by the Occupy movement. Occupy Bay Area curator Betti-Sue Hertz will be the panel’s respondent. More about the exhibition at OCCUPY BAY AREA

Upcoming Exhibitions!

Marc Lida, Dora in the Garden, c.1980, watercolor on paper, 22 x 30"

Freud, Proust, Sex and Love: 
The Art of Marc Lida
September 22 - October 27, 2012

Opening Reception

5-8pm, Saturday, September 22

251
251 Greene Street, New Haven, CT
Hours by appointment only
203.891.7844

On view will be never seen before sketches for Lida's Proust series, along with images of the New York City downtown scene of the early 1980s. Marc passed away in 1992 at the age of 35. His brother David will be at the opening to discuss Marc's art.

Zoe Leonard
September 15 - October 27, 2012

Murray Guy gallery
453 West 17th Street
New York, NY

Leonard’s first solo show in a New York gallery in nearly ten years, the exhibition could be said to begin with a series of questions:

“What is photography? Is it a print or an object, is it a jpeg on your screen or does it only exist if you print it out? Is it a snapshot on your phone, a slide projection, or the image you see in your mind before you click the shutter?  In short, is photography a thing, or a picture, or is it a way of seeing?”

P*P*O*W at Expo Chicago 
Navy Pier
Booth #612

September 20 -23
Showcasing: Arch Connelly, Julie Heffernan, Timothy Horn, Hunter Reynolds, Carolee Schneemann, Robin Williams, Martha Wilson and David Wojnarowicz

HIV, MSM, PEP: Learning through Webinars

A webinar is a seminar, or information session conducted over the internet. It is an accessible way that up to the minute information can be shared. 

Two webinars are being offered regarding the latest HIV/AIDS info. 

1. MSM Global Forum presents: 
Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP): The Basics That MSM Should Know
Thursday, September 13, 2012
8AM (Pacific Daylight Time)
Learn what PEP is, what it does, and how it help you. You must register to participate in the webinar. For more information, including how to register visit: Ready Talk. 

2. HIV Prevention Justice Alliance presents: 
Untold Stories of AIDS 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
12pm - 1:30pm (Eastern Standard Time) 
AIDS 2012 brought together people, crucial data and information from around the world....and MOST of it didn't make the news. Curious about what wasn't reported? Join HIV PJA as we look back onto AIDS 2012 with top panelists from across the HIV/AIDS struggle, reporting on the most important untold stories and issues of AIDS 2012. Register Here: Untold Stories. 

Upcoming Exhibition: Crossing Houston

Portrait/Self Portrait of David Wojnarowicz, 1983-85

collaboration with Tom Warren;mixed media
60 x 40 inches 

Crossing Houston
SMART CLOTHES GALLERY 
154 Stanton St. 
September 11 - October 11, 2012
Opening on September 11, 2012 6 to 9pm

The show illustrates how much historic work came out of The East Village during the 1980's. The whole scene then moved to SoHo, then Chelsea, and now back below Houston Street to the Lower East Side. It's being curated by Gracie Mansion, Hal Bromm and Paul Bridgewater. The show has works from the heyday of the East Village from the mid 80's.

Artists in the show include Keith Haring, Jane Dickson, Mike Bidlow, David Wojnarowicz, Rick Prol, McDermott/McGough, Jim Radakovich, Rodney Alan Greenblat, Marcus Leatherdale, Barry Bridgwood, Luis Frangella, Duncan Hannah and John Ahearn.

Directions: Smart Clothes Gallery is at 154 Stanton St. at Suffolk St. one block below Houston St. Take the "F" train to 2nd. Avenue. If you are at the front of the train, you can exit at 1st. Ave. and you are only a few blocks away. Wed - Sunday 12pm - 630pm
154smartclothes@gmail.com 212-627-3276 154smartclothes.com