Visual AIDS

Committing To Interconnection: A Look at Current Debates within HIV/AIDS

2012-02-09T17:50:00.004-05:00

Last Saturday QuORum Forum held its third session of Not Over: You Me Us & AIDS. This town-hall style meeting brought together activists and organizers from all over the city, generating a fascinating dialogue about the potential of HIV/AIDS to shed light on other social justice issues, and the importance of forging connections both within and between activist movements and nonprofit organizations.

In honor of that discussion, we wanted to share several articles giving a quick update on current issues within the world of HIV/AIDS, ranging from the local to the international. They cover many of the issues introduced during the forum, including:

- The difficulties in reaching under-served and under-informed communities,

- The strong connections between HIV/AIDS and other major world issues of poverty, inequality, and power,

- And the challenges in negotiating diverse ideologies within activist movements.

May they spark discussion, connection, and creativity!

NY Policymakers Grilled Over HIV/AIDS Housing Help, The Wall Street Journal

Discusses the controversy over new NYC legislation requiring clients of the HIV/AIDS Service Administration to be screened for substance abuse in order to qualify for housing services.

An Open Letter to Komen CEO Nancy Brinker, The Washington Post

Komen’s Nancy Brinker: “I Made Some Mistakes”, CBS News

A fascinating look at the latest developments in the Komen Foundation controversy, shedding light on both the intense political pressure that health service organizations experience and the potential for public dialogue to foster relationships and create positive change.

India’s Global Pharmacy Role Threatened by EU Trade Pact, The Economic Times

International struggles over property rights may limit the availability of ARVs in countries dependent upon Indian-made drugs.

Global Health A “Window” Into Addressing Spectrum of Challenges, GlobalPost

Takes a look at the ‘inter-disciplinary field’ of global health journalism and the challenges of generating both public and political interest in issues.

For more information and continuing discussion of these issues, head on over to the forums some of our fellow NYC-based organizations committed to service provision and advocacy for people living with HIV/AIDS:

Pain without Despair

2012-02-09T15:37:00.005-05:00

by Eliza Sprague

Photos by L.J. Roberts

Visual artist Eric Rhein presents us

with images of the men he carries

with him every day, including his

angel Nureyev.

When I was asked to share some thoughts on the Intergenerational Storytelling Hour, part one of the three-part forum series Not Over: You, Me, Us & AIDS, I thought it would be easy. For days I struggled with how best to represent this forum, to explain why it was so important, why I left with tears in my eyes and a smile on my face, and why I suddenly felt so close to people that I had met only hours before.

I almost didn’t make it to the forum. I hesitated at the door and even as I took my seat and waited for the talk to begin I questioned whether hearing stories of such intense pain and pervasive loss were really the best thing for me. But when artist and activist Sur Rodney Sur began to speak, sweeping us into the world of 1980s-90s New York City, I forgot to be afraid. I let the story pull me in and temporarily set aside my self-protective vigilance.

Both Sur and second speaker, artist Kate Huh, painted pictures of a crisis taking place within a deeply communal world. They described the 1980s-90s as era of ‘socialization without technology,’ in which the only way to make connections was to leave the safety of home. Communities sprang up around local watering holes and copy shops, and these allowed for the development of strong, intergenerational social networks that could both organize and support one another as the AIDS crisis grew.

Quito Ziegler & Jack Warner

The availability of life-prolonging treatment for HIV has returned the option of disclosure to many living with the disease who would in the past have been unable to hide their illness. A generation of weary activists and survivors has been allowed a rest from the war-like realities of the epidemic and public discussions of personal struggles with HIV/AIDS have diminished. Conversations about one’s own serostatus are rare even within the relative safety of HIV clinics, in which an ‘assumed anonymity’ carries the understanding that ‘you’re not going to talk about serostatus or AIDS.’ This culture of disclosure acts as both a source of protection and of isolation.

Yet as a new wave of young people struggles to piece together a history obscured by the decimation of a generation of queer and artistic communities, they have begun to question this lack of communication, and to ask for the stories and experiences of both those who have lived (and still live) with HIV, and those who have loved them.

And so we found ourselves in a forum moving fluidly between discussions of the HIV/AIDS community to remembrances and celebration of those loved and lost during the first chapters of the AIDS crisis, each speaker allowing us tiny glimpses into the worlds in which they lived and the people we would never know. I braced myself as artist Eric Rhein and writer/performer Hana Malia prepared to address the topic that I had dreaded most, that all along I feared would break my fragile psyche into pieces; they began to speak of their enduring love for those they had lost.

I have never been good at dealing with loss. In an effort to avoid depression and paralysis I have buried my sadness deep under layers of spiritual rationalization and indifference. What was ‘meant to be’ would be, and all I had to do was keep moving. It was an unsustainable strategy at best, and the last year of my life has been an exercise in acknowledging its futility.

Eric Rhein, Leaves, 1999-2012 - Each leaf is a "portrait" of a person who has died of AIDS"

In Rhein and Malia’s stories I expected to feel the same sense of helplessness, the caged grief petrified in my inability to accept reality and the continuing sensations of missing someone so much that all I wanted to do was collapse on the ground and stay there forever. But in their stories of happy times spent with departed loved ones, in the subtle beauty of Rhein’s wire leaves depicting the lives and characters of people he had known, I felt more than grief. I felt the joy of their memories and the peace of acknowledging their continued existence. I could shed tears at the pain of those who spoke without feeling drowned in either their sadness or my own.

Kate Huh, performers her " analog
powerpoint" tribute to her friend
the artist John Bernd

Too often we fear to speak our pain, believing that conjuring up those emotions and re-experiencing trauma will only prolong our suffering. Burying the pain and moving on feels much safer than displaying our wounds. Yet I know now that I, at least, cannot heal alone.

At the start of the forum, each of us introduced ourselves by stating what we expected from the meeting. Some came to support friends; others to ‘deal.’ Some came to better understand the history of the queer community within the context of HIV/AIDS. But almost every single person stated that they had come to ‘hear stories’. Within these stories we found hope. We found an outlet for our grief. We found the chance to construct community out of history. Fully formed human lives blossomed out of the images and words of our speakers. I left feeling as if I had met the late dancer and performer John Burn of whom Huh spoke, the fashion designer Gayle Kirkpatrick with whom Sur had shared a long and close friendship, and a host of others whose memories we celebrated over the course of three hours.

As I listened to the stories of celebration and grief, of humor and unblushing truth, I felt something inside me shift. It surprised me, yet perhaps I should have expected it. It was pain without despair. It was sitting in a fire and finding that the flames did not burn. It was a kind of safety I could only have experienced through the collective support of my peers.

Hana Malia’s final words best captured my feelings on that day: “I am grateful for having had people who loved me enough to make the loss of them this vivid.” The greatest gift of this forum lay in allowing us to experience the fullness of that gratitude.

Author Bio:

Eliza Sprague grew up in Evanston, Illinois. Coming of age during the years of intense international and local conflict that followed the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, Eliza has spent the better part of her young adult life exploring the factors that shape society in an attempt to understand the realities of our current struggles as well as our successes as a global community. Eliza has studied overseas in Costa Rica, India and Scotland through an international studies program called Global College. For the last two years she has studied sociology and community development at Bennington College, from which she will graduate this June. She is currently interning with Visual AIDS and Housing Works in NYC.

To find out more about QuORum Forum and stay informed about upcoming events, visit www.quorumnyc.org , or check out the Not Over: You Me Us & AIDS facebook page.

80WSE Gallery Fights Back Against AIDS

2012-02-09T12:09:00.000-05:00

by Cara Cifferelli on February 8th, 2012

via nyuLocal

The Steinhardt School Department of Art and Art Professions building on Washington Place is like Silver’s quiet, reserved aunt. Rarely the center of attention and relevant to few, she is usually ignored as students rush between classes. But every so often, that aunt lets her radical, rebellious past shine through, and that past is manifested in the 80 Washington Square East Gallery, a Steinhardt run exhibition space. You may have noticed the 25 foot window installation facing WSP, with photos of anti-gay protesters and church sit-ins by gay couples glaring at the streets in blue and yellow. The show is “Gran Fury: Read My Lips,” and it chronicles the national reaction to the AIDS epidemic from 1981 to today.

Shocking and provocative, the exhibition gives visitors a visual history lesson. The first room represents America’s initial reaction to AIDS, and if it doesn’t make you want to write to your local congressman, we don’t know what will. Photos of Ronald Reagan laughing with other conservative politicians, next to captions about how they wanted to have HIV positive people tattooed on the arm and lower back to “warn” potential partners make the stomach turn.

Gran Fury, who named himself after the car used by the NYPD, has been working for decades to promote AIDS awareness and curated this exhibit. On one wall, we see three couples, one heterosexual, one gay, and one lesbian, kissing to show that “kissing doesn’t kill, greed and indifference do,” fighting the stereotype that saliva spreads AIDS. The adjacent wall features a photograph of the “Kissing Doesn’t Kill” ad in Chicago defaced by anti-gay protesters.

Fury also takes on the Catholic Church, with enormous images of the pope covering his face. With the advent of AIDS, the Vatican reinforced abstinence to prevent spread of the disease, and opposed use of condoms. In case the message wasn’t clear enough, the images are arranged to form an upside down cross.

Fury leaves no stone unturned: “Don’t read Cosmo” signs protest Cosmopolitan magazine’s article saying that women do not need to fear HIV. “12% of women in New York City die of HIV related illness” retort the fliers. Fury’s painting parody of the “Love” statue spells “Riot,” which is what we want to do after seeing all of this and asking ourselves why this horrible disease hasn’t been cured yet. Fury paints an eloquent answer to this question: politically and socially, we cannot move forward and realize the enormity of this disease.

The final room sums up the exhibit: an enormous billboard of a baby reads “Welcome to America; the only industrialized country besides South Africa without national health care.” When the billboard was made, this was true; now the picture is more shocking, with our country being the only one left. Fake money fills the room, with angry phrases summing up the feelings of visitors: Why haven’t we fixed this? How can so many people die without anyone stopping it?

Included in the exhibit are take-home postcards, posters, and The New York Crimes newspaper to help spread awareness. As gallery visitor and Steinhardt sophomore Danya put it, “it looked really interesting, and I have to be somewhere at 5:30 so I figure it’s a good way to spend some time.” And with admission free, why not learn about an amazing movement against an all too real disease, where “kissing doesn’t kill” but indifference and ignorance do.

At the Dinner Table...

2012-02-09T11:57:00.002-05:00

February 8th, 2012 by Aldrin Valdez

via art21 blog

Nicole Eisenman. "Seder," 2010. Courtesy Leo Koenig Gallery

This is Nicole Eisenman’s Seder: a painting about differences coming together at the dinner table

On the right, there’s an orange-skinned man, rendered flat against the picture plane by the intensity of his color; he calls to mind an R.B. Kitaj character in his dark suit and strange appearance. In fact, all of the sitters seem strange if taken out of the context of the picture:

A pink Gustonesque diner, heavy on the nostrils, sits right next to a cherubim girl, who harkens back to many a Renoir painting.

On the left, a pastel green-pink wine-drinker casts a beady, tipsy glance; he or she (the gender is ambiguous) seems to have been cut-and-pasted from a James Ensor canvas.

An acid-yellow lady recalls the lithe women from the gloomy world of Edvard Munch.

There’s a boy in a baby-blue sweater, waiting sleepily for dinner to be served; he reminds me, too, of an Ensor character, or maybe a George Bellows street urchin.

The two women at the far side of the table are harder to place in style. Perhaps sisters, these earth-mothers look Picassoid and Munchian at the same time; the one directly across from the viewer’s gaze has a hint of Paul Cadmus in the way she is modeled.

This is a lesson in art history, then, one that Eisenman knows very well. She culls the works of famous modernist painters; from the sources I’ve noted, it is an exclusively male canon of artists. But in Seder, collaging and riffing from the repertoire of those history-made men, Eisenman reworks and reinvents the pre-existing, male-dominated modes of representation, as if to say: yeah, this is the language and history we’re taught, but we’ll do with it what we want and need to do. The traditions and conventions handed down to us—Seder meaning “order” or “arrangement” in Hebrew—might inform our identity, but they do not limit us. Despite their different textures and styles, what connects the sitters is a shared Jewish identity. This unites them as much as the geometry of the table unifies the composition, creating a pictorial whole that merges together these various ways of painting. Another sitter is situated in the viewer’s place, with only his or her hands visible in the space of the painting; the viewer, too—in the act of looking—unifies these people together in “the big picture,” bringing his or her own collaged existence to the table.

This past weekend I joined a circle of writers, artists, activists, and community organizers for “Not Over: You, Me, Us & AIDS.” Organized by L.J. Roberts, Quito Ziegler, and Ted Kerr for QuORum FORUM, “Not Over” was, as the trio described, a town hall meeting of sorts, whose participants come from all walks (saunters, swaggers, etc.) of life to talk and share and pose questions about queerness and our relation to the history of AIDS. While the first two events staged a story-telling in remembrance of friends who had died from AIDS and a screening of the film Untitled, the third event was a discussion about living with HIV. Living with HIV means not only the experience of a person who is HIV-positive, but also the experience of a community living in a world where HIV and AIDS are a reality.

Thinking about AIDS globally and not limiting it to the 80s was central to the discussion. The room, like Eisenman’s Seder, was a diverse arrangement of the young and the more experienced. Most of us were not old enough to have witnessed and processed how AIDS affected the queer community in the 80s, let alone considered its global resonance; others expressed being in a weird phase in their lives when they were just becoming aware of themselves as queer and not yet able to comprehend the political and social implications of AIDS. But also in attendance were seasoned activists and “cultural caregivers” like Amanda Lugg, Amy Sadao, Nelson Santos, and Laura Whitehorn; and younger, but nevertheless prolific activists like Che Gossett and Michael Tikili. Each speaker brought a different perspective to the table with the history, actions, and questions they shared.

How have HIV criminalization laws in the U.S. influenced the laws pertaining to HIV disclosure in other countries?

What happened this day, this month in the history of the epidemic?

How do you bring information about AIDS and harm reduction to sites of repression and surveillance such as prisons?

Doesn’t healthcare mean empowering the people?

How much are we beholden to the State, to tradition, to convention? How much are we defined by our relationship to it?

How do you negotiate differences between interconnecting movements?

What can art do? Is it enough?

These questions and the responses they engendered were difficult; sometimes there were no answers, just more questions. I sat there listening as others spoke and shared stories about growing up and being a person of color, or being Jewish, or being transgender, or being queer in the Midwest. I was drawn to the words that trailed off with “I don’t know.” I observed how people sat with this uncertainty, with the not-knowing. I identified with the sense of displacement you experience when you’re reorienting your view of history or something you thought you knew well. Seeing it through the eyes of others and comparing your views with theirs: what comes up? What didn’t you know before? Where can this new knowledge go? There was a lot coming up in the few hours of conversation between a few dozen people, and at times it felt overwhelming.

I was reminded of Untitled (by Jim Hodges, Encke King, and Carlos Marques da Cruz) and its montage of images that span many decades: a flow of newscasts, interviews, and performances that create a non-linear picture of the world seen through the framework of AIDS. Some clips did not originally address AIDS, but in its context they shed light on the relationships between the epidemic and its figures, events, and politics. In turn, seeing those images in the context of AIDS offers the viewer a larger visual field; images and ideas do not exist in isolation. “Not Over” is kind of like that. The conversations it sparks brings together varying points of view and individual experiences. The questions above, dovetailing with Ted’s questions from my first post, are meant to generate more discussion about AIDS. “I’m always looking for those who aren’t in the room,” one of the participants said. In response, I thought about the places where conversations about AIDS do not occur and about the people who do not speak or know how to begin speaking about AIDS. About the parts of us that do or don’t get awakened, that run away out of fear. What if the table were different ? What if these conversations occurred elsewhere? Where are they not occurring? How can we perform them in those places?

To find out more about QuORum Forum and stay informed about upcoming events, visit www.quorumnyc.org , or check out the Not Over: You Me Us & AIDS facebook page.

Art To Teach And Remind Us (of what has come before)

2012-02-08T11:57:00.002-05:00

via becomingmreagle

"Unfinished Painting" by Keith Haring (American, 1958–1990). 1989. Acrylic on canvas.

I was an oblivious child when the AIDS epidemic swept through the gay community like a ravenous angel of death that no one yet understood. While watching cartoons on a big boxy TV, I remember brief news reports of an evil disease that sinners got because God was mad at them. Through my conservative Christian lens, AIDS was a part of the forbidden topic of homosexuality that sat well outside my world of understanding. Gradually, as it happens with little kids, I grew up and learned more about myself and the world and one day I found myself free and conscious and examining a part of history that surely affects me so much, but one that I had never really had any direct knowledge about.

An entire generation of gay men has been wiped out and a horrible scar left on the collective psyche of those who remain. Living in NYC has allowed me to meet men who lived through those harsh times and hearing their stories of lost friends and life in a society violently waking up to the emerging queer community is powerful. Their stories also makes me realize how easy my life has been in some ways. The history of gay men is a vibrant tale that has spent most of its time in shadows and learning about the men before me has been largely a person-by-person survey. I’m eager for a wider perspective of where we’ve come from so as to better direct where we go from here.

Recently I went to see an art exhibit called, “HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture“, that presents a hundred years of queer themes in art. Below is a small selection of the work that had an impact on me…all three pieces from the late 20th century and dealing with the AIDS epidemic and the loss caused to the community. There are powerful lessons in these works so take a moment to look and read and pause to remember.

In the midst of the AIDS crisis, the poet Thom Gunn said he never thought there was a “‘gay community’ until the thing was vanishing.” In 1990, 18,447 Americans died of AIDS. The artist Keith Haring would be one of them, passing away on February 16, 1990, at the age of thirty-one. Haring had vaulted to public prominence as a graffiti artist whose comical and mysterious cartoons started appearing randomly in New York City’s subway system and led him to mainstream fame in the art world. The sketchy, skittering nature of his drawing is worked into this painting, but the structure of the unfinished work gives it a formal weight. The hanging strings of the unfinished painting suggest not just incompletion but unraveling.

"Felix, June 5, 1994" by AA Bronson, 1994 (printed 1999). Lacquer on vinyl, 84 x 168 in.

“I made this photograph of Felix a few hours after his death. He is arranged to receive visitors, and his favorite objects are gathered about him: his television remote control, his tape-recorder, and his cigarettes. Felix suffered from extreme wasting, and at the time of his death his eyes could not be closed: there was not enough flesh left on the bone. Felix and Jorge and I lived and worked together from 1969 until 1994. During that time we became one organism, one group mind, one nervous system; one set of habits, mannerisms, and preferences. We presented ourselves as a “group” called General Idea, and we pictured ourselves in doctored photographs as the ultimate artwork of our own design: we transformed our borrowed bodies into props, significations manipulated to create an image, a reality. “

"Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) by Félix González-Torres (American, 1957–1996). 1991.
Candies individually wrapped in multicolored cellophane, endless supply.
Overall dimensions vary with installation, ideal weight: 175 lb.

Even as a minimalist, Félix González-Torres also had a whimsical, humanistic side that showed the influence of pop art on his installations. In this “portrait” of his deceased partner, Ross Laycock, González-Torres created a spill of candies that approximated Ross’s weight (175 lbs.) when he was healthy. Viewers are invited to take away a candy until the mound gradually disappears; it is then replenished, and the cycle of life and death continues. While González-Torres wanted the viewer/participant to partake of the sweetness of his own relationship with Ross, the candy spill also works as an act of communion. More darkly, the steadily diminishing pile of cheerfully wrapped candies shows the dissolution of the gay community, as society ignored the AIDS epidemic. In the moment that the candy dissolves in the viewer’s mouth, the participant also receives a shock of recognition at his or her complicity in Ross’s demise.

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is February 7

2012-02-07T11:14:00.001-05:00

For National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, February 7, TheBody.com put together a slide show of some great Black experts in HIV about the epidemic in African-American Communities.

What Really Fuels the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Black America?

For the past 15 years, we have been bombarded with images and media attention that have blamed the "down-low brotha" -- the closeted gay man who sleeps with both men and women -- for the AIDS epidemic in black America. Meanwhile, numerous studies have debunked those claims. Yes, there are closeted gay black men, but the reality is that so much more is at play when it comes to why African Americans account for only 14 percent of the U.S. population but make up almost half of all newly diagnosed HIV cases each year.

Click here to take a look at what HIV/AIDS advocates from across the country say is really worsening the epidemic in the African-American community.

JUSTICE is HIV Prevention

2012-02-06T13:03:00.000-05:00

Two ways to get involved:
1. On February 8, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear two landmark cases about HIV, sex and the criminal law.

If you live in Toronto, come out against the Criminalization of HIV in Canada. AIDS ACTION NOW is hosting a DAY OF ACTION today. For more information visit AIDS ACTION NOW.

2. Last summer, CeCe McDonald, a young African American transgender woman, was violently attacked in South Minneapolis. As she and several friends were walking to the grocery store, a group of white adults standing outside of a bar started shouting racist and transphobic insults at them. Tragically, the violence did not stop there- one of the adults slashed CeCe across the face with a broken bottle, cutting all the way through her cheek. The only person facing charges is CeCe McDonald.

To find out more about what happened read here: Why We Should Support CeCe
To sign a petition to have CeCe released please visit: Free CECE

AIDS/Art:News/Reviews/Silence

2012-02-06T12:47:00.001-05:00

David Waggoner, Blue Pose, 1984, oil pastel, 24 by 18 inches

Interesting read from Visual AIDS friend Aldrin Valdez: NOTES ON SILENCE

Review of XY on XY by David Waggoner & Lester Strong: ON TO SOMETHING

Money for Art, AIDS, America: $75 000

RED seeing PINK, reflections on Planned Parenthood

2012-02-06T12:00:00.001-05:00

A stunning weekend for Planned Parenthood, and the power of social media. While keeping up with the ever changing story, we came across the following articles worth a read:

The SUSAN G. KOMEN foundation has been shady for awhile: CURE - a word worth suing over?
What the fall of the SUSAN G. KOMEN foundation means for women of color: Colorlines: Gender Matters
Gay Men need to care about PLANNED PARENTHOOD: I AM A FEMINIST

AIDS on FILM

2012-02-06T11:45:00.002-05:00

Ten years after Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard began the ACT UP Oral History Project, we are beginning to see the impact of the archive in popular culture. Visual AIDS is excited to see these films:

UNITED IN ANGER: The History of ACT UP

Premiering on February 16th at the MOMA, this film directed by Jim Hubbard is the first feature length documentary examining ACT UP from a historical perspective. For more info: unitedinanger.com

HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE

Get a behind the scenes look of this upcoming film about the early AIDS crisis by clicking here: redhot.org Using footage from the ACT UP Oral History Project and other sources, this film directed by David France explores how everyday people in trouble made a difference.

When Acting Up Meant Arting Up

2012-02-03T13:18:00.002-05:00

via NYTimes
By Martha Schwendener

The American art world has never gotten over its first love, Europe. And so, when the Occupy movement heated up last year, many art types reached instinctively for European theory and precedents. But in recent decades examples of direct action and a sustained movement made of small affinity groups have flourished in New York. An exhibition devoted to one such group, Gran Fury, is on view at New York University.

Gran Fury existed as a collective with a core of around 10 members from the end of 1989 until the mid-’90s. It grew out of Act Up (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), which formed in 1987. The group’s name is also suitably local, taken from the Plymouth Gran Fury, which was used as a squad car by the New York City police in the 1980s.

The political climate of that period informs the entire show. This was an era before “cozy prime-time homosexuals,” as the group says in its catalog introduction. Ronald Reagan, elected in 1980, did not mention AIDS publicly until 1987, and Gran Fury’s work often took aim at conservative politicians and religious leaders who opposed gay rights. To grasp the cheerful assurance with which one could be homophobic in the ’80s, just gaze upon a Gran Fury poster with a photograph of a smiling girl wearing a T-shirt that says, “Thank God for AIDS.”

New York as an aesthetic landscape is also important. The catalog notes that downtown Manhattan in the ’80s was “plastered with graffiti, posters and stickers: a vital, free-for-all public forum,” and Gran Fury’s output fits in with that. They were artists using the language of advertising, and there are almost no “original” works here, save a couple of billboard panels like “The Pope and the Penis,” which was exhibited in the 1990 Venice Biennale. The display also includes photographs showing what happens when agitprop is circulated in the public realm: There’s playful graffiti, but also angry defacement.

Some of Gran Fury’s successes included “Kissing Doesn’t Kill” (1990), a series of posters displayed on buses and television service announcements that defied contemporary claims that AIDS could be spread by kissing. “Read My Lips” appropriated George H. W. Bush’s famous line from the 1988 Republican National Convention, turning it into a homoerotic provocation. A subway poster featuring a businessman’s handshake questioned the slow response to AIDS by the government and drug companies: “Is this medical apartheid?”

Didactic displays track media coverage and identify celebrity victims and saints: Rock Hudson and Liberace, who died from the disease; Magic Johnson, an early public figure to disclose his H.I.V.-positive status; Elizabeth Taylor, a vocal AIDS activist; and Diana, Princess of Wales, the first major celebrity to be photographed shaking the hand of an H.I.V.-infected patient.

Fake American currency is strewn over the floors of the gallery, paying homage to an action in which Gran Fury members threw garbage bags of fake money printed with messages onto the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. A wall of F.B.I. and C.I.A. documents obtained from the government tracks AIDS activism from the government’s perspective, describing ACT UP activists chaining themselves to pews in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, setting off colored smoke bombs at the National Institutes of Health and protesting a curfew in Tompkins Square Park.

The exhibition offers a flurry of images in which the haircuts and clothes are dated but the sentiments are not. For anyone following the Occupy movement, the overlap is uncanny. A wall text with the words “We Demand!” dovetails with recent discussions about protest and purpose. Similarly, race, class and gender quickly became an issue in both movements. In the catalog, members describe how ACT UP was initially composed of middle-class white gay men who “weren’t accustomed to being victimized by society in this new and deadly way.” Gran Fury subsequently tailored its output to include campaigns like “Women Don’t Get AIDS” from 1991 (the punch line: “they only die from it”) and materials addressing the devastation of AIDS among minorities.

An errata card inserted into the catalog makes the connection even more explicit. It says that the introduction was written in May 2011 — not October 2011, as printed. Hence, the text, which ponders the lack of activism in the current moment, was written “before the Occupy Wall Street movement,” adding, “What a difference a few months can make.”

The exhibition also raises important points about activism and art itself, however. A poster installed over the desk at the entrance, originally printed in The Village Voice in 1988, says: “Art Is Not Enough. Seize Power Through Direct Action.” But what was art in the ’80s? Preliminary histories focused on media like painting, which was buoyed by a growing art market. That “vital, free-for-all” urban landscape, though, provided an impetus for a different kind of art that had a powerful impact, well beyond the market.

And here, perhaps, is a lesson for contemporary activists. Corporate capitalism has sparked a movement that spilled into the streets and squares of cities around the world. But we’re still waiting to see how art will respond.

Gran Fury: Read My Lips” runs through March 17 at 80WSE, New York University, 80 Washington Square East, Greenwich Village; (212) 998-5747, steinhardt.nyu.edu/80wse.

Top Image: Gran Fury: Read My Lips "Welcome to America," left, a billboard sponsored by the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1989, is in this show about the art collective Gran Fury, at New York University's 80WSE gallery. (The Keith Haring sign is not related.)

Tacoma Art Museum gets $75,000 grant for 2014 show “Art, AIDS, America” from Paul Allen Foundation

2012-02-03T11:47:00.000-05:00

via TheNewsTribune

In an announcement this week, the Tacoma Art Museum was one of 58 cultural organizations in five states to receive 2012 grants from the Paul G. Allen Foundation, a non-profit granting organization founded in 1988 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Jo Lynn Allen. This cycle of grants totals $6.6 million, focusing on Native American communities and innovative projects.

The Tacoma Art Museum received $75,000 to organize their 2014 exhibit “Art, AIDS, America,” a collaboration with curator Jonathan Katz at the Brooklyn Art Museum. The show is intended to travel around the country.

“It’s an early grant, but it takes a museum a long time to organize a show like this, and right now they’re doing research, putting the catalog together,” said Jim McDonald, senior program officer for the foundation’s arts and culture grants. “This is one of the major exhibits they’ve done. We want to support the museum’s scholarly effort.”

While TAM was the only Tacoma group to receive a grant during this cycle, McDonald said that previous grants had been given to the Broadway Center for Performing Arts and the Museum of Glass. Tacoma Art Museum has been a regular grant recipient of the Allen Foundation since 1995.

“We annually fund them because of the great work they do, and their good management,” said McDonald.

The foundation grants to institutions in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and Alaska. Other Washington grant recipients include Seattle Opera, Seattle Art Museum, Bellevue Arts Museum and arts and cultural organizations in Seattle, Tukwila, Leavenworth and Pullman.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/arts/2012/02/02/tacoma-art-museum-gets-75000-grant-for-2014-show-art-aids-america-from-paul-allen-foundation/#storylink=cpy

LIVING WITH HIV: Part III of NOT OVER, You Me Us & AIDS

2012-02-03T08:33:00.000-05:00

Part 3: LIVING WITH HIV

Saturday, February 4, from 1-3 pm

Orientation (Bark) Room, New School, Ground Floor, 2 W. 13th St

The epidemic of HIV and AIDS touches all parts of our lives from our intimate relationships with ourselves and others, to the way we access healthcare, participate in the economy and politics, have sex, consume culture, and generally move through the world. This town hall style meeting brings together a diverse group of people to share contemporary experiences of how HIV shapes our lives, the work we do, and the way we form identity and community. Featuring Amy Sadao of Visual AIDS; Che Gossett of ACT-Up Philadelphia; Amanda Lugg, Director of Advocacy and Mobilization of the African Services Committee ; Laura Whitehorn, senior editor at POZ Magazine; and Michael Tikili of The Global Access Project of Health Gap.

More information at www.quorumnyc.org

2012-02-02T10:57:00.000-05:00

Strange Birds Visual Teaser from Ethan Shoshan on Vimeo.

The Center For Book Arts

28 West 27th Street, 3rd Floor, NYC 10001

January 18 – March 31, 2012

Gallery Hours: Monday–Friday 10am–6pm, Saturday: 10am–4pm

Artist Talk w/ Edwin Ramoran on role models and intergenerational dialog: Wed, March 21, 6:30pm

Artist project by Arthur Aviles, Jill L. Conner, Barry Frier, Bibbe Hansen, Geoffrey Hendricks, Jim Hubbard, Stephen Kent Jusick, Stephen Lack, Agosto Machado, Stefani Mar, Liz McGarrity, Lucia Maria Minervini, Angelo Monaco, Augustmoon Ochiishi, Uzi Parnes, Dennis Redmond, Hunter Reynolds, Charles Rice-Gonzalez, Rob Roth, Edward Rubin, Rafael Sánchez, Arleen Schloss, Gervaise Soeurouge, Sur Rodney Sur, Chris Tanner, Brad Taylor, Gail Thacker, Jack Waters, Kathleen White, Brian "Soigne" Wilson, and Stephen Winter

Strange Birds encompasses vignettes into people’s lives through objects that hold significant personal meaning to them. Through each object on display, a conversation with its caretaker begins; visitors have the freedom to peruse the objects and listen to an accompanying audio guide conversation. It is through these stories that we connect and engage with the person behind the story and gain insight and an intimate connection to something deeper within ourselves. From Bibbe's relationship with her mom through gathering stones to a realization of home in acceptance of every moment as "perfect," to SKJ's first projector providing the construction of personal and social resources that help shape his creative community. A new inspired look at timeless portraiture, weaving together personal archives and institutional archives, forgotten histories, memories, and embodied experiences in a testament and an affirmation of life and its lessons.

This Belongs to Us, curated by Richard Haines

2012-02-01T11:36:00.001-05:00


Jimmy DeSana, Aluminum Foil #3, 1985, c-print, 10” x 8”. Courtesy of the Estate of Jimmy DeSana

Visual AIDS invites guest curators, drawn from both the arts and AIDS communities, to select several works from the Frank Moore Archive Project to curate a web gallery. This month, Richard Haines curates This Belongs to Us featuring the artwork of David B. Abbott, Marcelo Alves, Bern Boyle, Rene Capone, Joe De Hoyos, Jimmy DeSana, Bryan Hoffman, Jerry Hooten, Samuel Lewis, Eric Molnar, Daniel Roberts, Nelson Edwin Rodriguez, Joseph Stabilito, and George Towne.

From the Curator's Statement:

As I looked through the archive so many memories came rushing at me. Maybe this is why it's taken so long to curate this web gallery. It's incredibly painful to relive this amount of loss. This is my generation. I get the references, the styles. But now the work is everyone's generation, it belongs to all of us. That's part of the great beauty of art. (read more here)

About the Curator:
Richard Haines often refers to New York City as an endless runway; befitting of a man who moved to the big city to pursue illustration, became a successful fashion designer, and who has come full circle as one of today’s most sought after fashion illustrators. In fact, many look to Haines as the impetus of fashion illustration’s resurging popularity today.

Haines' illustrations regularly grace the pages of InStyle Magazine and his wildly popular website, What I Saw Today which feature his personal and professional works, has received accolades from respected critics at Paper Magazine, New York Magazine, men.style.com, refinery29.com and getkempt.com to name just a few. It is not uncommon to see Haines seated front row at fashion week’s most desirable shows busily sketching images for magazines and blogs who hire him to record what no camera is capable of capturing. In July 2009, Haines received his first solo show at one of the Lower East Side’s most respected galleries, Envoy Enterprises.

View WEB GALLERY here

[web gallery may contain adult content]

2012-01-31T11:30:00.000-05:00

World premiere of

United in Anger: A History of ACT UP

Documentary Fortnight 2012: MoMA's International

Festival of Nonfiction Film and Media

Thursday, February 16, 2012

8:00 PM

The Titus One Theater

11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY

Tickets go on sale February 9. $12 adults, $10 seniors, $8 students, Free for MoMA members.

United in Anger: A History of ACT UP is an inspiring documentary about the birth and life of the AIDS activist movement from the perspective of the people in the trenches fighting the epidemic. Utilizing oral histories of members of ACT UP, as well as rare archival footage, the film depicts the efforts of ACT UP as it battles corporate greed, social indifference, and government neglect.

View the United In Anger trailer here

How can AIDS OCCUPY your mind?

2012-01-31T11:15:00.000-05:00

Aldrin Valdez, Visual AIDS intern alum, is PBS ART:21’s blogger-in-residence. Read his first post, Past Queer / Queer Future: In Conversation with fellow intern alum Ted Kerr. Together they explore current ideas around art, AIDS and activism.

Visit ART:21

A Park to Remember a Plague

2012-01-30T17:29:00.001-05:00

via New York Magazine

The Winner: Infinite Forest, Studio a+i
Rendering by Guillaume Paturel/Courtesy of studio a+i

In April 2010, an urban planner named Paul Kelterborn read an article in this magazine about the doomed St. Vincent’s Hospital, where so many AIDS patients died in the early years of the epidemic. Since there was no major AIDS memorial in a city that had lost more than 100,000 people, wrote David France, “the bland sarcophagus along Seventh Avenue holds that place.

Kelterborn and his friend Christopher Tepper felt that the exquisitely appropriate place for a memorial would be the neglected little triangle next to St. Vincent’s, bounded by Seventh Avenue, Greenwich Avenue, and West 12th Street. In the kind of urban activism that gave us the High Line, they formed a group, raised money, pleaded with bureaucrats, and held a design competition. Nearly 500 entries flooded in.

Memorializing a disease’s victims is not the same as commemorating a war. A plague is sightless. It has no values to reject, no goals to stymie; its story has no definite end. Although AIDS devastated the gay community, the virus has no orientation. All of its meaning derives from a resistance that was slow to start and remains maddeningly incomplete. “How do you create a memorial to victims some of whom have yet to be born?” asks jury chairman Michael Arad, who designed the World Trade Center memorial.

Map by Jason Lee

Those ambiguities inspired most entrants and flummoxed some. Many seized on the red ribbon. A few envisioned a multicolored grid of stones, an abstraction of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Others focused on the dead, remembering them with lights or trees. Some designers, frustrated by the dissonance between the site’s flatness and AIDS’s tormented landscape, sculpted the topography, laying a meandering footpath across it.

The best entries mated conceptual clarity with the complexities of history and the site’s quirks. The jury decided that the winner would have to reconcile a lively neighborhood park with a meditative memorial. An arbor with a plaque wouldn’t do; neither would an overweening Stonehenge.

The point was not to impose a design on a city that has yet to accept the project. (Among other things, it still has to pass the community board.) Instead, the contest was meant to attract a cascade of ideas with which to cajole neighbors, bureaucrats, developers, and donors. The war against AIDS, after all, has been waged on many concurrent fronts. In the end, the jury picked a design of crystalline—and buildable—simplicity. “Infinite Forest,” by Studio a+i, consists of a birch grove enclosed by three mirrored walls that define a cloister and at the same time extend the reflections boundlessly, elegantly evoking the disease’s countless victims, its global reach, and its uncertain future.

HIDE/SEEK Tour

2012-01-30T13:37:00.000-05:00

Leslie-Lohman Museum Exclusive Tour of

HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture

2pm on Saturday, February 4 at the Brooklyn Museum

Cost: $35 members/$45 non-members

Price includes museum admission

Tour led by Jonathan David Katz, co-curator of Hide/Seek and LLMGLA Board Member

Space is limited! Please RSVP by Wednesday, February 1.

Minor White, Tom Murphy (San Francisco), 1948

Minor White Archive, Princeton University Art Museum

Bequest of Minor White, MWA 48-136

HIDE/SEEK: Difference And Desire In American Portraiture, the groundbreaking gay and lesbian portrait exhibition first shown at the National Portrait Gallery, is on view at the Brooklyn Museum until February 12, 2012.

HIDE/SEEK co-curator and LLMGLA board member Jonathan David Katz will lead this final private tour of the exhibition exclusively for Leslie-Lohman Museum members and friends.

Art for AIDS, Two Opportunities for Artists

2012-01-30T11:28:00.000-05:00

Alliance for Living staff, Back to Picture's SOMA Gallery space.

1. Thriving Resilience…Life Through Positive Eyes

San Fransisco’s Back to Picture is hosting an open call to Bay Area artists currently producing work and living with HIV/AIDS to submit for an April exhibition in their SOMA gallery. A portion of the proceeds to benefit the AIDS Emergency Fund.

Deadline to submit is FEBRUARY 11, 2012

For more information, including how to submit, visit Back to Picture.

Contact:Derek at derek@backtothepicture.com

2. Donate your Masterpiece to Art for Life

New London, Connecticut’s Alliance for Living is asking for the help and generosity of Connecticut based artists and beyond to donate a quality art piece for the Annual Art for Life benefit.

Work and completed form must be received by MARCH 19, 2012

To obtain the form, and learn more about submitting and the event, visit Alliance for Living.

Contact: Laurie at lmcelwee@allianceforliving.org, 860-447-1239, ext 229

Scott Hunt @ Schroeder Romero & Shredder

2012-01-30T10:24:00.000-05:00

UNTITLED screening as Part II of NOT OVER, You Me Us & AIDS

2012-01-26T11:02:00.000-05:00

Still from Untitled

QuORUM present:
UNTITLED (film screening)
Part II of NOT OVER: You, Me, Us, & AIDS

Saturday, January 28, from 1-3 pm

Kellen Auditorium, New School

Main floor, 66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street

UNTITLED is a non-linear 60 minute film by Jim Hodges, Encke King, and Carlos Marques da Cruz, placing HIV / AIDS within the context of national and international moments. UNTITLED is a people’s history of the last 30 years with AIDS at its center. After the screening we will debrief the impact of AIDS on our collective history and together, discuss how we understand ongoing AIDS impacting our lives today and into the future.

This screening of UNTITLED is part of the NOT OVER: You, Me, Us, & AIDS forum, organized by artists and activists L.J. Roberts, Quito Ziegler, and Ted Kerr as part of QuORUM. The three week series of events, explores the ongoing impact of HIV/AIDS in queer life.

Part III of NOT OVER: You, Me, Us, & AIDS: LIVING WITH HIV will take place on Saturday, February 4, from 1-3 pm at the Orientation (Bark) Room, New School, Ground Floor, 2 W. 13th St.

All events are free and open to the public. More info at www.quorumnyc.org

Going to Creating Change this weekend?

2012-01-25T15:43:00.001-05:00

Creating Change is an annual organizing and skills-building event for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and their allies.

The 24th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change is this weekend in Baltimore, Maryland, at the Hilton Baltimore.

Look for the Visual AIDS Play Smart Condom packs, and the No Glove / No Love tote bags designed by Chloe Dzubilo and T De Long.

While you are at Creating Change, meet up with the great people of the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance.

HIV PJA will be releasing their 2012 Action Agenda and be hosting two meet ups. Join them at the Colorful Lounge in the Baltimore Hilton lobby at 8am Friday, June 27^th, or 8:30pm Saturday, January 28^th. Bring a friend!

Postcards from the Edge THANK YOU ARTWORK AVAILABLE ONLINE

2012-01-25T12:32:00.002-05:00

Thank You to everyone who came out to support Visual AIDS's 14th annual Postcards From the Edge benefit, held Jan 6–8, 2012 at Cheim & Read gallery. To date, the benefit has raised over $83,000, with 1475 participating artists and thousands of attending guests. We are immensely grateful to the contributing artists, collectors, Cheim & Read gallery, volunteers, and sponsors for making the event so beloved, so well-attended, and so successful.

Buy a Postcard
Missed the event or want to buy more postcard artwork? For a limited time, postcard-sized artworks may be purchased for $85 each; buy 2 and receive a 3rd as our Thank You. Follow these easy steps to view and buy artwork:

Facebook & Flickr
View a limited selection of available postcard-sized artwork on our Facebook or Flickr

In New York City
If you are in the NYC area, you can make an appointment to view a selection of postcard-sized artworks at our Visual AIDS office, 526 West 26th Street #510, btw 10th & 11th Avenues. Office Hours: Monday-Friday from 11AM-6PM. Set-up an appointment at 212-627-9855 or info@visualAIDS.org.

Want to do more?
Had a great time at Postcards From the Edge? Love your new artwork? Missed the event but still want to show your support? Let Visual AIDS know you care. Additional donations are always greatly appreciated.

PURCHASE
Payments or donations can be made by check, credit card or PayPal. You can pay-by-phone by calling 212-627-9855 or online through PayPal. Checks can be sent to: Visual AIDS, 526 West 26th Street #510, New York, NY 10001. account. If you see something you like, contact us ASAP at 212-627-9855 or info@visualAIDS.org.

Pictures & Press:

Gallerist NY, Oh Yes! Charity Postcards Pack a Lively Cheim & Read Friday

NY Times, The Buzz

TimeOut NY, This Week in New York

Next Magazine, BENEFITS PACKAGE: Art On The Edge of Change

ArtForum, Scene & Herd

See more photos on Facebook

Above images courtesy of Steven Rosen Photography

SHOUT: Closing Event for Witness

2012-01-24T12:51:00.003-05:00

MCA Exhibition - This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s

2012-01-20T11:14:00.002-05:00

Jimmy De Sana
Marker Cones, 1982
Jimmy De Sana Trust

via Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

The art produced during the 1980s veered between radical and conservative, capricious and political, socially engaged and art historically aware. This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s provides viewers with an overview of the artistic production of these heady days, as well as impart the decade’s sense of political and aesthetic urgency by placing many of the decade’s competing factions in close proximity to one another.

The exhibition is divided into four sections: “The End is Near” toggles between discourses of the end of painting, the end of the counter culture, and the end of history. In the “Democracy” section we see a renewed interest on the part of artists with working in the street, the burgeoning awareness of the importance of the mass media (particularly television) the rise of Central American artists and artists of color to increasing prominence, and the pervasive commitment to the political that shaped the period. The section titled “Gender Trouble” elaborates upon the implications of the 1970s feminist movement with work that expanded our sense of societal gender roles, and smuggled in new ideas about sexuality and figuration. Finally, there is a section called “Desire and Longing” in which artists working with appropriation techniques are presented in relation to the emergence of queer visibility brought on by the AIDS crisis. By crossing these wires the exhibition hopes to suggest that despite the claims of cynicism or overarching irony sometimes leveled at the work of this period, often what we find are artists struggling to articulate their wants, needs, and desires, in an increasingly commodified and seemingly impenetrable world.

Organized by MCA Chicago, This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s is guest-curated by Helen Molesworth, Chief Curator of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.

For more info and listing of related events, visit the MCA website

NOT OVER: You, Me, Us, & AIDS - In 3 Parts

2012-01-18T14:50:00.005-05:00

NOT OVER: You, Me, Us, & AIDS is organized by artists and activists L.J. Roberts, Quito Ziegler, and Ted Kerr as part of QuORUM FORUM. The three week series of events, explores the ongoing impact of HIV/AIDS in queer life.

All events are free and open to the public. Events take place at the New School.

Eric Rhein, Leaves, 1999-2012 - Each leaf is a "portrait" of a person who has died of AIDS

Part 1: INTERGENERATIONAL STORY TELLING HOUR

Saturday, January 21 from 1-3pm
Organized in part with Dan Fishback
Kellen Auditorium, New School
Main floor, 66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street

Queers who died of AIDS in the 80′s and 90′s will be remembered with stories and performances by their surviving friends and admiring descendants. Current artists from our community will also share performances that reflect on this lost history and its impact on their lives now. Featuring Eric Rhein, Sur Rodney Sur, Kate Huh, Jack Waters and Hana Malia. Audience is invited to welcome and introduce lost loved ones, ghosts and friends we lost.

Still from Untitled

Part 2: UNTITLED (film screening)

Saturday, January 28, from 1-3 pm

Kellen Auditorium, New School

Main floor, 66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street

UNTITLED is a non-linear 60 minute film by Jim Hodges, Encke King, and Carlos Marques da Cruz, placing HIV / AIDS within the context of national and international moments. UNTITLED is a people’s history of the last 30 years with AIDS at its center. After the screening we will debrief the impact of AIDS on our collective history and together, discuss how we understand ongoing AIDS impacting our lives today and into the future.

NOT OVER buttons produced by Visual AIDS

Part 3: LIVING WITH HIV

Saturday, February 4, from 1-3 pm

Orientation (Bark) Room, New School, Ground Floor, 2 W. 13th St

The epidemic of HIV and AIDS touches all parts of our lives from our intimate relationships with ourselves and others, to the way we access healthcare, participate in the economy and politics, have sex, consume culture, and generally move through the world. This town hall style meeting brings together a diverse group of people to share contemporary experiences of how HIV shapes our lives, the work we do, and the way we form identity and community. Featuring Amy Sadao of Visual AIDS; Che Gossett of ACT-Up Philadelphia; Amanda Lugg, Director of Advocacy and Mobilization of the African Services Committee ; Laura Whitehorn, senior editor at POZ Magazine; and Michael Tikili of The Global Access Project of Health Gap.

For more information about all these events can be found at www.quorumnyc.org Questions and inquiries can de directed to aidsnotover@gmail.com.

Imperial Court of New York & Visual AIDS team up at Will Clark's Porno Bingo

2012-01-17T17:48:00.001-05:00

Join us and The Imperial Court of New York for Will Clark's Porno Bingo to benefit Visual AIDS on Wednesday, January 25 from 8-10 PM at Pieces, 8 Christopher Street, NYC

How AIDS Was Branded: Looking Back at ACT UP Design

2012-01-17T11:45:00.003-05:00

via The Atlantic

by Steven Heller

A conversation with a member of Gran Fury, the "propaganda wing" of the early AIDS-awareness movement

In a 1987 speech, the public health advocate Larry Kramer urged that HIV-related illness be seen as a new kind of contagion. ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) was formed immediately afterward to bring needed awareness to a disease that was ravaging gay men. AIDS soon became politicized and ACT UP used civil disobedience and activism to attack the inertia and downright hostility from the mainstream to homosexuals accused of bringing on their own plague.

ACT UP held weekly "highly charged" meetings at The Center on West 13th Street in New York. It was a time of despair, and the ad-hoc members of ACT UP used every public means to increase understanding and compassion towards the disease's sufferers and ire towards the disease itself. Out of these meetings in 1988 came the graphic design and advertising arm, Gran Fury, a diverse group of designers and artists producing various public expressions using t-shirts, posters, stickers, banners, billboards, and video to get the message through. Pairing the slogan "Silence = Death" and the purple triangle (referencing gays in Nazi concentration camps) created in 1987 by the Silence = Death project, Gran Fury's iconic "Kissing Doesn't Kill: Greed and Indifference Do" poster put AIDS awareness on the map.

On January 31 through March 17 NYU's Steinhardt Department of Art and Arts Professions is hosting Gran Fury: Read My Lips, a retrospective exhibition curated by Gran Fury and Michael Cohen. I spoke to one of the members, Loring McAlpin, who was speaking on behalf of Gran Fury about its collective legacy

View Slideshow here

It seems like only yesterday that AIDS hit like a nuclear blast and Gran Fury's advertisements were blasted all over too. What, in fact, triggered the formation of the group?
The response was triggered by an awareness that our lives were in danger, that the political and medical institutions that we assumed would take the necessary steps to stem a nascent epidemic were in fact stalled. Friends and lovers, people we knew, were dying, and even the medical facts of HIV were not adequately understood. It's worth noting that for many of the early organizers of ACT UP, not having full attention of the health and political establishment was something new - an awareness that the gains of gay liberation were limited. The irony is, of course, that nothing did more to bring the lesbian and gay community into the mainstream than the AIDS crisis. But that may be precisely because it demonstrated so clearly that stigma and discrimination served no one's interests, and that gays and lesbians were much more a part of society than had been acknowledged.

On a more literal level, Gran Fury formed after Bill Olander of the New Museum offered their window on Broadway to ACT UP in November 2007 for an installation. An ad hoc group formed to use this opportunity to get a message out. The group that created the installation, called "Let the Record Show" continued meeting to do more public projects, and this group became Gran Fury.

Gran Fury was the model of NYC police cars in the '80s. Where did you get the name?
We thought the name of the NYC squad car described nicely our anger and urgency, with humor, a slightly camp sensibility, and a nod to the ordinary—a mid-range Plymouth.

Gran Fury's method of using conventional advertising approaches was echoed by Guerilla Girls, Barbara Kruger, and others. How was the decision made to go in that direction?
We simply used the tools that were available to us, and of course the languages of advertising and appropriation were two of the first places we looked, even as we sought to insert unexpected messages in those vocabularies. There was not really a self-conscious "conceptual strategy". The press, government and the medical establishment were not delivering information or countering stigma; we wanted our activist voice to fill that void. Therefore, we tried to insert our message seamlessly into those spaces that were normally occupied by authority, and we used whatever we could to grab attention. It didn't matter to us if that was a borrowed strategy or not.

Yours was a collective. How were creative decisions made?
Decisions were made collectively, in weekly meetings. Then production tasks were divided according to the skills and availability of individual members. It wasn't always the most efficient process, but we managed to do a relatively effective boiling down of a message in this way.

You were the "propaganda" arm of ACT-UP and arguably the images you produced, some of which are iconic today, did as much for raising awareness as anything. What were your strategies and principles? Did you have a plan of attack?
At first, when we had limited funds, either our own money or from ACT UP, we sniped small flyers on the streets of lower Manhattan for the cost of offset printing and wheat paste. As the art world looked for ways to support ACT UP and the activist response to the pandemic, we were offered grants and opportunities. Simply, we sought to bring awareness about the pandemic that would lead others to join us in asking for the appropriate steps to be taken, whether that was streamlining the drug approval process, making funds available to allow for treatment and social services for HIV+ individuals, or countering social stigma that prevented those affected from getting appropriate care. Additionally, we recognized that our "propaganda" had a role in the group identity. Having graphics that made our demands not only visible but also to some extent pleasing gave ACT UP a stronger sense of itself. We chose not to sequester ourselves within the art world, removed from a broader public. Therefore we always demanded that our work to be visible in public space, and made that a condition for sponsors. We also decided not to make anything that could be sold, no unique objects that could be marketed, or to participate in the gallery economy. In retrospect, perhaps we could generate funds for bigger projects, but in not having to focus on that aspect, it forced us to concentrate on a message. None of us pursued this work as a full time career, and so there was a need to keep it simple.

What were the roadblocks in getting the ACT UP message out?
The Kissing Doesn't Kill campaign, one of our most widely seen projects, was an example of the extent to which even art world support had limits. The tagline to our image of racially mixed straight and gay couples kissing was "Government Inaction, Corporate Greed and Public Indifference Make AIDS a Political Crisis". The project, Art on the Road, had a funder, AMFAR, that the organizers didn't want to offend. So it ran without the tagline outside of New York City. Our hands were tied in this instance; we did not have the power to insist that the full message be run. We decided that the image itself had some value alone, and agreed to participate in spite of this. That alone proved provocative enough to generate press, which extended the reach of the project.

In general, we tried to remain aware of what was permitted in public space. If our message was too radical, we risked both access as well as a broader public reception.

In the catalog to current Gran Fury exhibition photographs of the famous "Kissing Doesn't Kill: Greed and Indifference Do" with the inter-racial and male to male kissing scratched out (although female to female was not touched), what did this tell you about American tolerance?
Although it would be tempting to conclude that it reveals a greater acceptance of lesbians than gay men, as that defacement occurred in San Francisco, it may simply demonstrate a strain of lesbian separatism more than anything else. The heterosexual interracial couple in the image was erased as well.

So much of Gran Fury's work, which appeared radical then, has been co-opted or adopted by mainstream image-makers. Does this make you proud or not?
At the very least, it suggests that our imagery became part of a vocabulary, so yes, that's nice to know.

How would you describe Gran Fury's legacy?
Perhaps we take our greatest satisfaction in the achievements of the broader movement - the ways in which the drug approval process was accelerated, the inclusion of patient groups in that process, the reduction of pricing for life saving drugs, the broader movement to make health care more affordable and increase access for all Americans. If we had a role in advancing the ways in which political and social dissent harnessed the power of media to communicate a more radical politics, then that also. But perhaps in that sense we were the product of many other broader forces that propelled these things. In many ways, we were just at the right place at the right time to have been allowed to operate as we did.

Steven Heller is the co-chair of the MFA Design program at the School of Visual Arts and co-founder of the MFA Design Criticism program. Steven Heller is the co-chair of the MFA Design program at the School of Visual Arts and co-founder of the MFA Design Criticism program. He writes the "Visuals" column for The New York Times Book Review, "Graphic Content" for T-Style's "The Moment" blog, and The Daily Heller for Print magazine. He is the author or editor of over 140 books on design and popular visual culture.

AIDS Memorial Parks: SF & NY

2012-01-13T13:13:00.000-05:00

Taking Sides in Triangle Park Fight from NYCity News Service on Vimeo.

The Grove - Trailer from Open Eye Pictures on Vimeo.

Oh Yes! Charity Postcards Pack a Lively Cheim & Read Friday

2012-01-13T12:42:00.004-05:00

via GalleristNY
By Dan Duray

Artists, bargain hunters, charity supporters and cross-dressers packed into Cheim & Read gallery in Chelsea last Friday for “Postcards from the Edge,” a Visual AIDS fundraiser that featured more than 1,500 artist-decorated postcards at 85 bucks a pop. The postcards crammed the gallery’s two main rooms and at one point, the place was so packed that a passerby accidentally knocked a three-dimensional piece off the wall—a photograph with a bending transparency over it so that it appeared the penis with two hands wrapped around it was coming at you.

There was no buying on Friday—visitors rescinded their purchasing privileges for the chance to ogle and strategize weekend buying. The next day masses would descend upon the gallery in the hopes of snagging a work by Ed Ruscha, Jeff Koons, Nicole Eisenman, Louise Lawler, Barry McGee, Kiki Smith or Robert Longo—who had all donated works. The cards were marked by number, so you couldn’t be sure who’d made which card until you bought it, though it wasn’t long before we bumped into someone who said he’d found Yoko Ono’s contribution.

Fashion designer Geary Marcello had spotted it. He works frequently with Ms. Ono and said that if you’re at all familiar with her drawing style, you’d recognize the hand that drew the alleged card—a small smiling face with a tiny scrawl that read “I love you!” That night Mr. Marcello wore a pink leather jacket and piercings all around his shaved head, a bar sticking right through both sides of his nose.

“She thinks I’m pretty outrageous,” he said of Ms. Ono. “She’s always like, ‘You’re the craziest person that I’ve ever known!’ And it’s like, ‘Excuse me, I’m not.”

The photographs ranged in content, but there were obviously a few naked men. And a surprising number of bananas.

We interrupted Peter, a tall artist who works under the name PMS (his initials) and wore a purple button down, as he snapped an iPhone photo of one postcard that had a real banana and a condom pinned to it. He was interested because he’d also submitted a banana piece.

“Mine’s over there, below the guy with the big dick,” he said. “It’s the banana, at the bottom.”

He’s actually working on a whole series involving bananas.

“I draw them, and what I do is, I trace around them so I get the right shape,” he said. “I do some yellow, some psychedelic.”

Raffle ticket sales were robust, according to Lady Detoxx Bustie-AE, a cross-dresser from the Imperial Court who wandered the room with a bucket. The main prize—the ability to choose any postcard off the wall before they officially went on sale—was incentive enough for most people to buy a ticket. “Some of them, I’m just batting my eyes,” she said, and demonstrated.

The crowd got a little feisty on white wine and to settle everyone down presenters at the end of the event used Occupy Wall Street tactics. “Mic check!” they shouted to elicit a response and tell people to shut up. “Mic check!” They actually did have a mic, though, and a tiny amplifier.

“Postcards from the Edge is one way of reaching down to the depths of who we are,” said Visual AIDS executive director Amy Sadao when the mic came to her. “With our paint and ink, with our grit and glitter we embrace our collective selfhood. The beauty is that through our struggle and conviction we gain greater clarity and through clarity comes truth as we see here, dazzling originality. We are in a defining moment because we are defining it.”

The raffle followed, and attendees walked away with prizes like a year-long membership to the Guggenheim. Just as they finished reading the numbers for the grand prize winner, one man in the audience threw his torn tickets up in the air like confetti, which, if you think about it, meant that he’d had to destroy them before he knew that he’d lost. Though you had to admit it was festive.

In Memoriam: Bonnie Goldman

2012-01-13T11:12:00.002-05:00

From The Body

The following text is from Body.com's staff to commemorate the life and work of Bonnie Goldman. Please feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments section here.

I am deeply saddened to share the news that Bonnie Goldman, TheBody.com's former editorial director, passed away due to breast cancer on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011. She was 55 years old. Bonnie worked on the site from its earliest days in 1995 through early 2010. Her vision helped shape the site you see today and her dedication to the HIV community knew no bounds.

No one word sums up Bonnie better than "passionate." She was passionate in everything she did and said -- from fighting for the rights of people living with HIV to raising awareness of HIV in underserved communities. I worked with Bonnie for more than a decade and witnessed her passion on a daily basis. She never backed down from her beliefs and had a unique ability to make others see things her way. Her efforts online and off helped countless people.

She leaves behind a tremendous body of work on TheBody.com and TheBodyPRO.com. You can read her numerous articles and interviews in our archives, but I would encourage you to start with her final blog entry as our editorial director, which she posted in January 2010, to understand just how much her work meant to her.

May she rest in peace and may her family take solace in knowing that she spent her time on earth wisely. -- Aryeh Lebeau, general manager of TheBody.com and TheBodyPRO.com

NOTE from the staff at Visual AIDS - Bonnie Goldman was a great supporter and friend of Visual AIDS. Most of our meeting were virtual, through emails and the occasional phone call, but she also made the point to attend many of our events, and was a true supporter of the arts. As the Editorial Director for TheBody, which host the Visual AIDS website, she was always there to help us "look good", guiding us through many changes and last minute updates, making suggestions on ways to highlight the art and provoke dialogue. She believed in the importance sharing knowledge, and building communication to create change and understanding. We thank her for all she has done and her dedication to the AIDS community. She will always be remembered.

Pictures from the Edge

2012-01-10T17:52:00.000-05:00

Thank You to everyone who came out to support Visual AIDS's 14th annual Postcards From the Edge benefit, held Jan 6-8, 2011 at Cheim & Read.

To date, the benefit raised over $75,000, making it the single largest annual source of income for Visual AIDS. With over 1450 participating artists from around the world and thousands of guests, the event was a huge success. We are immensely grateful to the contributing artists, volunteers, event sponsors, host gallery, guests and collectors for making the event so beloved, so well-attended, and so successful.

Click here to view some of the photographs by Steven Rosen from our Preview Party and Sale on our Facebook page.

Postcards From the Edge is made possible by the generosity of over 1450 artists! Participating artists will be contacted by post or e-mail in 4-6 weeks regarding the collector of the work or, if requested, the return of unsold works.

Photo credit: Steven Rosen Photography

NYTimes: The Buzz - Postcard from the Edge!

2012-01-05T15:03:00.000-05:00

via The New York Times

by Denny Lee

A PREVIEW of the must-attend parties, talked-about openings and fashionable night spots for the week ahead.

GREETINGS FROM CHELSEA

Is it a John Baldessari, an Ed Ruscha or an unknown? Visual AIDS holds its 14th Postcards From the Edge benefit, with all works selling for $85. But in a twist, the 1,500 postcard-size works will be displayed anonymously, with the artist’s identity revealed only after purchase. Other participating artists include Jeff Koons, Nicole Eisenman, Louise Lawler and Kiki Smith...[and more!]

Cheim & Read Gallery, 547 West 25th Street, visualaids.org.

Preview party on Friday, 6 to 8 p.m.; tickets, $85. Benefit sale

Saturday and Sunday; $5 suggested donation.

Artists List: Postcard from the Edge

2012-01-05T04:13:00.002-05:00

One Thousand Four Hundred and Seventy-Five Participating Artists

download Artists List here

Luciana Abait • David Abecassis • Rachel Abrams • Tanya Acevedo • Robbie Acklen • Leslie Adler • Tatiana Akoeva • Michael Alago • Elizabeth Albert • Julie Albert • Leslie Albin • Dominic Albo • Sonia Albuquerque • Norman Alcantara • Herve Alexandre • Brian Alfred • Jamie Allen • Renate Aller • Juan Alonso-Rodriguez • Laurie Alpert • Ian Amell • Michele Amendolari • Abdolreza Aminlari • Marina Ancona • Dianna Anderson • Jo Andres • Stephen Andrews • Victor Angelo • William Anthony • Nick Antiaris • Polly Apfelbaum • Sally Apfelbaum • Rosaire Appel • Ida Applebroog • Leora Armstrong • Theodore William Arnold • Yelena Aronson • Barbara Asch • Dianne Athey • Jane Atlas • Robert Attanasio • Dotty Attie • Daniel Atyim • Ochiishi Augustmoon • Julie Ault • Anthony Austin • Dominick Avellino • Javier Avila • Anna Ayeroff • Funda Zeynep Ayguler • Aziz + Cucher • LaThoriel Badenhausen • Donald Baechler • Adam Baer • Felipe Baeza • John Baldessari • Phyllis Baldino • Gilles Balmet • Victor Barahona • Gerard Barbot • Marianne Barcellona • Scott Barnes • Alan Barnett • Jill Baroff • Raphael Barontini • Burt Barr • Paula Barr • Mark Barry • Thomas Alan Bartlett • Rick Bartow • Elliot Bassman • Hugo Xavier Bastidas • Anthony Battiato • James Battistelli • Christopher Bavaria • Rebecca Bavuso • Zach Beacher • Matthew Beall • Charles Beard • Mark Beard • Jarrod Beck • Lisa Beck • Stephanie Beck • Laurel Beckman • Sheri Lynn Behr • Lisa Marie Bell • Thomas G. Belloff • Zoe Bellot • Susanna Beltrandi • Winifred Bendiner-Viani • Barton Lidice Benes • Wayne Bennett • Sonja Benskin Mesher Rca • Taleen Berberian • Ellen Berdinner • Rachel Berg • Carla Berger • Dory Bergman • Betsy Bergreen • Sarah Berkland • Lane Berkwit • Katherine Bernhardt • Kate Berube • Stephen Beveridge • Steven Bindernagel • Annaliese Bischoff • JoAnn Bishop • Rhona Bitner • Sean Black • Christa Ann Blackwood • Kelly Blair • Nancy Blair • Nayland Blake • Mireille Blanc • Martin Bland • Ken Blaschuk • Julio Blasco • Lola Blasco • Antonia Blatchford • Ross Bleckner • Peter Bloch • Elaine A. Blum • Eric Blum • Lester Blum • Mike Blumenthal • Chris Bogia • Justin Vivian Bond • Andrea Bonime-Blanc • David Borawski • Raymond Bordeaux • Erica Borkowski • Suzanne Bort Gray • Amy Bouse • Dianne Bowen • Bruce Boyce • Julie Boyd • Daniel Boyer • Katherine Bradford • S. Kendall Bradford • Liz Bradshaw • Cheryl Braganza • Roger Braimon • Michael Bramwell • Gabriel Branescu • Janet Braun-Reinitz • Charles Bremer • Sarah Brenneman • Chloe Brent • Grey Brent • Norbert Briar • Peter Bright • John Brill • Lidia Brodetsky • Anne Brody • Nancy Brooks Brody • AA Bronson • Jonathan Brooks • Mitsuko Brooks • Blake Matthew Brousseau • Brice Brown • Patrick Brown • Trisha Brown • Richard Bruce • Veronica Bruce • Loreen Bryant • Tanya Bubnov • Keith A. Buchholz • Falk Buchroder • Robert Buck • Matthew Buckingham • Roy Buckley • Thomas Bugarin • Rachel Bullen • Milanka Bunard • Amy Burns • Samantha Burns • Tim Burns • Kenneth Burris • Virginia Burroughs • Nancy Burson • Carmen Bury • Stephanie Busson • Ira Byelick • Theresa Byrnes • Kate Caldwell • Jim Callahan • Kathleen Callahan • Kit Callahan • Anne Calver • Sherry Camhy • Sally Camp • Callie Campbell • Mary Campbell • F. Lennox Campello • Rishona Cann • Patti Capaldi • Suzanne Caporael • Sico Carlier • Joel Carlson • Curtis Carman • Eleanore Carson • Lana Carter • Lauren Carter • Adriano Castro • Niccolo Cataldi • Justina Cena • Francesca Centioni • Walt Cessna • Tay Cha • Omar Chacon • Esther Marie Chagaris • Corinne Chaix • David Chalkley • Tanya Chaly • Patty Chang • Taylor Charlton • Alan Chazaro • Miriam Cheikin • Demi Chen • Jason (Woei-Ping) Chen • Ed Cheng • Regina Cherry • Jessica Cheung • Marcy Chevali • Paul Chisholm • Lisa Chou • Jerry Choy • Petros Chrisostomou • Irene Christensen • Tony Yin Tak Chu • Chuck and Chelsea • Elise P. Church • Vincent Cianni • Melissa Cimino • Karen Clarke • Rob Clarke • Dawn Clements • Marion Cloaninger • Antonio Cobalti • Candace Cobuzzi • Jon Coffelt • Elaine Cohen • Raphaele Cohen-Bacry • Ben Colangelo • Carol Cole • Cecy Colichon • Lucille Colin • Vicky Colombet • Ginette Colon • Greg Colson • Peter Combe • Lara Comstock Orama • Brendon Connors • Laurelle Conte • Jannika Coons • Marcia Cooper • Robyn Cooper • Donna Corbani • Marti Cormaud • Anthony Cormier • Andrew Cornell Robinson • Anne Corrsin • David Corwin • Costello + Tagliapietra • Ingrid Coughlin • Marianne Coughlin • Olivia Cousins • Stephen Cox • Emma Coyle • Peter Cramer • Steve Crawley • Fred Cray • Brian Crede • Albert Crudo • David Antonio Cruz • Rodney Cuellar • Janet Culbertson • William Cullum • Megan Cump • Colleen Cunningham • Janet Curley Cannon • S. Purvis Cykes • Kevin Cyr • Choi Dachal • Steve Dalachinsky • Laura Dandaneau • Chauncey Dandridge • Angela Datre • Moyra Davey • Sally Davies • Anthony Davis • Kate Coughlin Davis • Len Davis • Robert Davis • Chris Day • Joe De Hoyos • Sonia de los Reyes • Tausha Deal • Rosetta DeBerardinis • Blase DeCelestino • Elisa Decker • Steve DeFrank • Bianca DeJesus • Michael Delfino • Renee Delosh • Jason Deneault • Francesca Deriso • Joan Desmond • Gabriel E. Detres-Vilanova • Kate deVeaux • Erika deVries • Tzfia Dgani • Uday K. Dhar • Christian Diaz • Gianna DiBartolomeo • James Diffin • Linda Digusta • Lesley Dill • Paul-Michael diMeglio • Danielle Dimston • George Dinhaupt • Ron Diorio • Andre Divet • Philippe Divine • Erin Dodge • Rory Donaldson • Elissa Dorfman • Josh Dorman • Judite dos Santos • Gerry Dotto • Peter Dougherty • John Douglas • Tara Dowd • Kirsten Doyle • Michael Doyle • Samuel Draxler • Joerg Dressler • Mary Louise Driscoll • Claire Dub • Melanie Ducharme • Laura A. Duchon • Craig Dudley • Gary Duehr • Katharine Dufault • Angela Dufresne • DeShawn Dumas • Sam Durant • Chad Durgan • Matthias Duwel • Marcel Dzama • Kirsten Earl • Louise Eastman • Bryan Eaton • Adam Echahly Joumal • Maria Elisa Echevarria • Marlene Eckhardt • Martha Nilsson Edelheit • Melissa Eder • Alexander Edwards • Stewart Edwards • Tiffany Edwards • Molly Einhorn • eljay • Stephen Douglas Elson • Virginia Elwood, in collaboration with Nelson Santos • Alysa-Beth Engel • Joy Episalla • Mitch Epstein • Patricia Erbelding • Sam Erenberg • Ernesto Pujol and Scott Tarr • Daniel Errico • Robert Escalera • Florencia Escudero • Camille Eskell • Jeff Evans • George Everyman • Anujan Ezhikode • Gwen Fabricant • Patricia Fabricant • James K. Fackrell • Neil Farber • Scott Farkas • Adriana Farmiga • Gregory Farrar Scott • Michael Farrelly • J. Faustina • Victoria Fearon • Nicholas Fedak II • Tony Feher • Amy Feldman • Kathryn Feldman • Lisa Ferber • Orlando Ferrand-Rodriguez • Elizabeth Ferry • Amanda Ferullo • Celeste Fichter • Toma Fichter • Diane Figueredo • Marin Fingerle • Sjah Firmann • Lisbeth Firmin • Lynda Fish • Louise Fishman • John Fitzsimmons • Christopher Flach • Flechemuller • Marciano Florentino • Sonia Florentino • Pamela Flynn • Robert Flynt • Robert Fontanelli • Jean Foos • Patrick Forgione • Marcell Forrest • Aiken Forret • Adam Fowler • Francine Fox • Ginny Fox • Krys Fox • Chris France • David Fratkin • Andy Fredricksen • Debbie Freeman • Martin Freeman • Max Freeman • Julianne French • Sabra Friedman • Elisabeth Frischauf • Silvana Frontera • Steven Fujimoto • Adam Fuss • Nick Fyhrie • Susan Fynes • Carly Gaebe • Lee Gainer • Kyle Gallup • Xiang Gao • Arturo Garcia • Ivan X. Garcia • Marcus Garcia • Wayne Garcia • Gabriel Garcia Roman • Joy Garnett • Tim Garwood • Jessica Gath • Erika Gauthier • Chadwick Gay • Paul Leroy Gehres • Andrea Geller • Stephen TenEyck Gemberling • Victoria Genberg • Carl George • Cris Gianakos • Becky Kisabeth Gibbs • Gina Gibson • Jody Giesser • Eric Ginsburg • Judy Glantzman • Milton Glaser • June Glasson • Margaret Glew • Kimberly Glutz • Chip Glynn • Camilo Godoy • Jo Going • Judy Gold • Larry Mark Goldblatt • Kenneth Sean Golden • Rory Golden • Arlene Goldsand • David B. Goldstein • Maria Elena Gonzalez • Timothy Gonzalez • Kathy Goodell • Gail Goodman • Sam Gordon • Leor Grady • Kevin Graham • Lawrence Graham-Brown • Federico Grandicelli • Rebecca Granne • Deborah Grant • Carlo Grassini • Barbara Gray • Daniel Gray • Dr. Elizabeth Gray-Rea • Naomi Greaves • Perry Greaves • Turner Greaves • Robert Greco • Joanne Greenbaum • Norma Greenwood • Chris Griffin • Peter Griffin • Keith Griffiths • Lenio Grohmann • David Gross • Ellen Grossman • Joan Grubin • Yikui (Coy) Gu • Troy Gua • Coco Gualtieri • Cassandra Guan • Edgard Guanipa • Francesca Guerra • Mireia Guitart • Robin Guterson • Carlos Gutierrez-Solana • Hans Haacke • Ira Joel Haber • Rebecca Hackermann • Melinda Hackett • Theresa Hackett • Ellen Hackl Fagan • Heidi Hahn • Frank Haines • Richard Haines • Joan Hall • Caroline Hallas • Samantha Hallenus • Peter Hay Halpert • Hamdan • Ann Hamilton • Barbara Hammer • Harmony Hammond • Jane Hammond • Aida Hamouda • John Hampshire • John Hanning • Erik Hanson • Kellie Hanson • Lynn Hanson • Constantia Hapasari • Breton James Harder • Brandt Hardin • Dave Hardy • David Edward Harmon • Susan Harmon • Pamela Hart • Sam Hart • David Greg Harth • Fedrecia Hartley • Michael Harwood • Heide Hatry • Arthur Haumacher • Anduin Havens • Toru Hayashi • Karen Heagle • Brian Healey • Daniel Healey • John Healy • Mary Heilmann • Manfred Heinze • Anita Heiser • Jason Heiser • Jonathan Heiser • Paul Heiser • Rebecca Heiser • Geoffrey Hendricks • Maxine Henryson • Ed Herman • Luis Hernandez • Kathleen Heron • Anne Herrera • Matthias Herrmann • Barbara Hertel • Mike Hewitt • Howard Heyman • Janice Hijin Lee • Amy Hill • Dawn Hill • James Hill • Michelle Hill • Eric Hilton • Matthew Hilyard • Sarah Hinckley • Dustin Hinson • Dion Hitchings • Dahn Hiuni • David Hixon • Jill Hochberg • Jennifer Hodges • Sara Holliday • Diane Holmes • Joseph O. Holmes • Bianca Hommert • Lukas Hommert • Sylvia Hommert • Homo Sapiens • Neil Ryder Hoos • Barbara Horiuchi • Nicholas Horman • James Horner • Hosanna Houser • Alexa Hoyer • Joel Hoyer • Mary Hrbacek • Keryn Huang • Tiffany Huettemann • Scott Hug • Debbie Hughes • Emily Hughes • Jennifer Hughes • Katherine Hughes • Laura Hughes • Winston Hughes • Kate Huh • David Humphrey • Scott Hunt • Sarfraz Husain • Richard Husson • Will Hutnick • Kazuko Hyakuda • Anthony Iacono • Phillis Ideal • Bob Ievers • Mikhail Iliatov • Shinto Imai • Inbred Hybrid Collective • Damian Iordanov • Kerry Irvine • Marcus Irwin • Jun Ishida • Naoko Ito • Carl Jablonski • Sandra Jackman • Joyce Jackson • Bill Jacobson • Xylor Jane • Matthew L. Jankowski • Jason Fritz and Keith Aguiar • James Jaxxa • Debra Jenks • Bill Jensen • Tom Jezek • Jim C. • Christian Jimenez • Leslie Jimenez • Bob Johnson • Courtney Johnson • Dominic Johnson • Kristopher Johnson • Nikki Johnson • Timothy Johnson • Don Joint • Carolyn Jones • Darin Jones • Darrell Jones • Marie-Louise Jones • Marion Jones • Michael Joo • Frank Jump • Faten Kanaan • Michael Kane • Daniela Kanfer • Ethan Kanfer • Elaine Karton • Nina Katchadourian • Betsy Kaufman • Dionisios Kavvadias • Janusz Kawa • John Keasler • Margie Kelk • Debora Kellogg • Claudia Kelly • Kate Kelly • Donna Kelsh • Wayne Kelton • Betty Kendall • Pam Kennedy • Brian Kenny • Matthias Kern • Barbara Kerr • Ted Kerr • Jen Keshka • Angela Kim • Johee Kim • Sofia Kim • Marcus Kincer • David King • Frances L. King • Polly King • Doreen Kirchner • Karima Klasen • William M. Klassen • Bernhard Kleber • Shelly A. Klotz • Lucretia Knapp • Barbara Knight • John Kobeck • Carol Kohn • Melissa Kojima • Maria Kollaros • Jeff Koons • Joel Koos • Fran Kornfeld • June Kosloff • Tzvetanka Koykova • Joyce Kozloff • Aaron Krach • Helmut Krackie • Kathleen Kranack • Jan Krasnan • Jerzy Kubina • Henrik Kublick • Naruki Kukita • Ryosuke Kumakura • M. Pavan Kumar • Carole Kunstadt • Michelle Kurlan • Aderian Kurniawan • Chitose Kuroishi • Oh Joon Kwon • Theresa Kyriakidis • Pelagia Kyriazi • Carol Marie Labozzetta • Jander Lacerda • Stephen Lack • Scooter LaForge • Eva Lake • Breanna Lamb • Anna Lambert • Nick Lamia • Jeremy G. Landau • Lindsey Landfried • Heather Lang • Robert Langdon • Sandra Langley • Shar LaPorte • Taylor Larese • Jonathan Lasker • Lisa Lasso • Mary Laube • Thierry Lauwers • Jack Lawler • Louise Lawler • Evan Lawrence • Matthew Lawrence • Mark Le Ruez • Simon Le Ruez • Christine Lebeck • Nicole LeClair • Francine LeClercq • Sarah Lecter • Calvin Lee • Erin Lee • Jessica Lee • Michael E. Lee • Sally O. Lee • Youn J. Lee • Alicia Leeke • Cary Leibowitz • Barbara Leiner • Nancer LeMoins • Zoe Leonard • Frederic Lere • Eric K. Lerner • Melanie Lerner • Joel G. LeVasseur • Judith G. Levy • Steve "Kid" Lew • Hakeem Lewis • Terry Lewis • Emma Liebman • Edward Lightner • Jane Lincoln • L. Line • Markus Linnenbrink • Stephen Lipman • Jackie Lipton • Sheryl Ann Liston • Elizabeth Livingston • Ginny Lloyd • Robert Longo • Sergio Lora • Whitfield Lovell • Leslie Lowe • Michael Lownie • Rupert Loydell • M. Lugas Syllabus • Sean Lugo • Charles Lum • Meredith Lund • Caitlin Luquet • Scott Lyman • Maria Lynch • Jessica Lynn • Giles Lyon • Jack MacGregor • Ian Mack • Jon MacNair • Keith Maddy • Cecilia Mahal • Matthew Mahler • Artimisia Mailarta • Luciana Maiorana • Arina Malukova • Joe Mama-Nitzberg • Sunil Manchikanti • Mandem • Ray Manikowski • Michael A. Manion • Yeni Mao • Geary Marcello • Marcie • Mitchell Marco • Anna Marfleet • Norma Markley • Shelley Marlow • Michael Marquez • Norma Marquez Orozco • Lael Marshall • Robert Marshall • Beth Mart • Billy Martin • David J. Martin • Garet Martin • Marie-Paule Martin • Presley Martin • Marvilla • Susan Masarek Wilson • Roberta Masciarelli • Martin Masetto • Cindy Mason • Sandra Masone • Christina Massey • Frank Mastropaolo • Joan Mastropaolo • Pietro Matarrese • Tara Mateik • Thomas Matsuda • Robert Adam Mayer • Mayo • Lou Mazzella • Debbie McCarthy • Stefana McClure • Mery Lynn McCorkle • Kelly McCormick • Char McCurn • McDermott and McGough • Sarah McEneaney • Barry McGee • Tom McGill • Mary McGonagle • Alison McGoran • John McGowan • John McLachlin • Carmen McLeod • Gregory McMullen • Andrew McPhail • Christina McPhee • Beverley J. McQuillan • Maureen McQuillan • Lisanne McTernan • Joelle McTigue • Gerald Mead • Roberto Medina • Julie Mehretu • Robert Melee • Margery Mellman • Joan Mellon • Megan Melly • Matthew Mendieta • Benny Merris • Monika Merva • Arnold Mesches • Editha Mesina • Ann Messner • Chloe Meyer • Eva Meyer • Charles Meyers • Neila Mezynski • Tara Mhella • Lucas Michael • Abigail Michaud • Sarah Michet • Nancy Mierzwa • Jose Luis de Miguel • Billy Miller • Judith S. Miller • Tracy Miller • Kerry Milligan • Christopher Milne • Paul Mindell • Lucia Minervini • Marilyn Minter • Shweta Mistry • Greg Mitchell • Joseph Modica • Amy Moffat • Slava Mogutin • Jorge Moncayo • Ivan Monforte • S. Monique • Sergio Montal • Mariana Montalvo • Tatiana Montesino • Louise Montgomery • Margaret M. Moon Hames • Paul Moreno • Jeff Morin • Johnathan Morpurgo • Kenneth Morrison • Paul Morrison • Leo Morrissey • Damon Mosely • Arezoo Moseni • Carlos Motta • Ulrike Mueller • Steve Muench • Frank Mullaney • Regi Muller • Willi Muller • Meritxell Munne • Estrella Luna Munoz • Victoria Munro • Matthew Bede Murphy • Ryan Sarah Murphy • Jeff Musser • Eleni Mylonas • Nicholas Naber • Stefanie Nagorka • Dennis Nance • Jack Nantz • Fiorence Naomi • Kirsten Nash • Elizabeth Natasha • Sean Nave • Irwin Nayman • Dennis Neal Vaughn • Judy Negron • Alexis Neider • Doris Neidl • Eva Neilsen • Jeroen Nelemans • Sara Nesbitt • Jeremy Newman • John Newman • Annysa Ng • Georgine Nichols • Annamaria Nieves • Rachael Nimon • Milton Ninja • Chuck Nitzberg • Jim Noonan • Brian Numme • CJ Nye • elin o' Hara slavick • Kristin O'Connor • M. Xavier O'Connor • Hunter O'Hanian • Morgan O'Hara • Maureen O'Leary • Alice O'Malley • Robyn O'Neil • Matt O'Neill • Janell O'Rourke • Amanda Ochart • Johnny Ochoa • Cupid Ojala • Kate Okeson • Yukako Okudaira • Midori Okuyama • Jeanine Oleson • Nancy Olivier • Jill Olm • Suzanne Olmstead • Yoko Ono • Robert Ordonez • William Ortiz • Francisco Osorio • Yuko Otomo • Tom Otterness • Sara Overton • Pedro Pacheco • Lucille Pack • Arturo Padilla • William Pagano • Starr Page • John Painter • James Parker • Kayla Parker • Uzi Parnes • Joan Parramon Fornos • Doug Parry • Mary Patten • John A. Patterson • Sarah H. Paulson • Hermes Payrhuber • Marion Pearce • Robert Pearre • Leanette Peles • Marc Pelletier • Anthony Pellino • Sally Penn • Raphael Pepper • Osvaldo Perdomo • Noemi Perez • David Anthony Perez II • Romaine Perin • Eve Perkins • Quimetta Perle • Philip Perlstein • Sage Perrott • Mark E. Perry • Roger Peters Blanc • Claudia Piehler • Liana Piehler • Jack Pierson • Iabadiou Piko • Egle Pilkauskaite • Matthu Placek • Patrick Plenge • Jessie Pohl • Gary Ponzo • Amy Jean Porter • Lawrence Porter • Daniel Portland • Jill Pratzon • Mel Prest • Diane Pribojan • Natalie Price-Hafslund • Sara Pringle • Sejma Prodanovic • R. Prost • Ronald Psimer • Mike Puckett • Lina Puerta • Deborah Pullan • Lovina Purple • Ronnie Queenan • Tal R • Karol Radziszewski • Anna Raff • William Ragals • Chelsea Ragan • Rully Rahim • Helaine Rainier • Paul Henry Ramirez • Carole Randall • Nekenasoa Randresihaja • Alanna Ranellune • Jessica Rankin • Susi Raphael • Curt Ratner • Lance Rautzhan • Geoffrey Raymond • Valerie Razavi • Wahyu Rd • Niall Rea • Warren Reed • Richard Renaldi • Erica Resnick • Monica Rex • Ronald Reyes Sevilla • Greg Reynolds • Stephen Reynolds • Mirena Rhee • Eric Rhein • Lauren Kathleen Rice • Robert W. Richards • Sarah Riedel Puckett • Edmond Rinnooy-Kan • Judy Riola • Vladimir Rios • Hannah Ritter • Guillermo Riveros • Khaleda Rizky • Andrei Robakov • Bruce Robbins • Robert9 • Daniel H. Roberts • Marie Roberts • Sandy Lee Robertson • Amanda Robinson • Steven D. Robinson • Peter J. Robinson, Jr. • Carlos Rodal • Emily A. Rodriguez • Nathaniel C. Rodriguez • Aya Rodriguez-Izumi • Vilma Rohena • David Rohn • Elena Roig • Cynthia Rojas • Natalya Rolbin • Viviane Rombaldi Seppey • Ariana Romero • Javier Romero • Joseph Rooney • Matthew Rose • Randi Rose • Aya Rosen • Kay Rosen • Ned Rosen • Rob Hugh Rosen • Gary Rosenberg • Jared Rosenberg • Steve Rosenthal • Carly Ross • Lisa Ross • Melissa Roth • Elizabeth Rothschild • Cody Rounds • Gail Rousseau • Kimberly Rowe • Dirk Rowntree • Andrew Roy • Alexandra Rozenman • Alexandra Rubin • Edward Rubin • Karen Ruelle • Nina Ruelle • Ed Ruscha • Arlene Rush • Craig Russell • Rene Russell • Renee Russell • Jim Ryan • Sue Ryan • Carol-Anne Ryce-Paul • Patrik Rytikangas • Alice Rzonsa • Pannuri Sachin • April Saler-Smith • Pep Sales • Terry Samilson • Ginny Sampson • Tony Sampson • Rodney Samuelson • Ruben Natal San Miguel • Weng San Sit • John Sanchez • Stuart Sandford • Hatori Sando • Hope Sandrow • Reuben Sandwich • Alessandro Sanson • Carmine Santaniello • Brian Santiago • Jonathan Santlofer • Nelson Santos • Hal Saulson • Caroline E. Savage • Alexis Savopoulos • Carol Savopoulos • Richard Sawdon Smith • Roberto Scala • Hiba Schahbaz • Ray Schamp • Emily Scharf • Bart Schechinger • John C. Scheffler • Peter M. Schepper (PMS) • Jeff Scher • Karen Schiff • Jessica Schimpf • Veronica Schliemann • Kenneth Schnall • Gary Schneider • Erica Schreiner • Larry Schulte • Susan Schwalb • Caroline Scott • Greg Seagrave • Claire Seidl • Nina Seigenfeld Velazquez • Jonathan Seliger • Gloria Sellan • Leith Semmens • Jason Sendros • Anna Seo • Paul Mpagi Sepuya • Harriet Serenkin • Cindrawati Setio • Jacqueline Sferra Rada • Ted Shan • Randi Shandroski • Michael Sharkey • Donna Sharrett • Denise Shaw • Phil Shaw • Patricia Shea • Carolyn Sheehan • Kate Shepherd • Kate Sherman • Heesun Shin • Ellen Shire • Peter O. Shire • Morisane Sunny Shiroma • Ethan Shoshan • Gabriel Shuldiner • Susan Shulman • Shungaboy • Rick Shupper • Suzan Shutan • Linda Sibio • Joyce Siegel • Nathaniel A. Siegel • Robert Siegelman • Emma Siewert • Christina Silaghi • Toni Silber-Delerive • Patricia Silva • Vincent Silva • Katie Simpson Spain • Margaret Singer • Sarah Sipling • Aim Sirampuj • David Six • Rolf Sjogren • Carri Skoczek • Hyla Skopitz • Matthew Sky • Tom Slaughter • Janice Sloane • Andrew Small • Rena Small • Wendy Small • Alexis Smith • Clifford D. Smith • Kiki Smith • Rebecca Smith • Shinique Smith • Warren Smith • Eleni Smolen • David Smyser • Ginger Snap • Snappy • Gervaise Soeurouge • Ali Soltani • Thomas R. Somerville • Anna Sorenson • Mario Sostre • Fedele Spadafora • Loryn Spangler-Jones • Maria Spector • Ana Speedie • George Spencer • Matti Kniva Spencer • Gary Speziale • David Spiher • Kristin St. Clair • Zack Stadel • Janet Stafford • Jee Hoon Stark • Marcella Stasa • Christopher Steadman • Barry Steely • Michael Stein • Michael Steinbrick • Pat Steir • Stanley Stellar • Melissa Stern • Judy Stevens • Janet Stewart • Jonathan Stewart • Sam Still • Ben Stock/Brainpower • Casidhe Streeff • Jerome Sturm • Juan Carlo Suazo • Yoko Suetsugu • Billy Sullivan • Elaina Sullivan • George Summers Jr • Judi Sunday • David Sundberg • Kreerath Sunittramat • Jeff Surawski • Rob Swainston • Marc Swanson • Harry Swartz-Turfle • Jane Swidzinski • Greg Swiger • Dot Szemiot • Stephan Szkotnicki • Magdalena Taber • Matthew Taggart • Sandra Taggart • Barbara Takenaga • Adi Talwar • Shawn Tamaribuchi • Sam Tan • Christopher Tanner • Luis Mario Tavales • Susan Taverna • Adam Taye • Morgan Taylor • Ron Taylor • Steed Taylor • Clifford Teachout • Merle Temkin • Idalja Temmer • Andy Teran • Rena Teratani • Joey Terrill • Gail Thacker • James Thacker • David W. Thomas • Gwenn Thomas • Daniel Thompson • Jennifer Thompson • Chrissy Thomsen • Sam Thorp • Michael Thorstensen • Jonathan Tichler • Mirachele Tifanklesia • Robert Timko • Tess Timm • Rirkrit Tiravanija • Catharyn Tivy • Jaimee Todd • Philip Tomaru • Betty Tompkins • Nancy Tompkins • Boris Torres • Raul Torres • George Towne • Micki Trager • Sanh Brian Tran • Jennifer Trapasso • Bill Travis • Scott Treleaven • Virginia Trembles • Allison Tripodi • Mary Barr Tripodi • R.J. Tripodi • Lee Ann Tristano • Alic Trossman • Kate True • Cody Tumblin • Ryan W. Turley • Chris Twomey • Auguste Rhonda Tymeson • Debbie Ullman • Penelope Umbrico • Alix Umen • Josette Urso • Juan Usle • Uswarman • Aldrin Valdez • Ever Blanco Valverde • Leopold Van de Ven • Cedric Van Eenoo • Hanna Van Goeler • Russell Van Peterson • Connie Van Winssen • Ria Vanden Eynde • Jeff VanDyke • Cassandra VanDyne • Jill Vasileff • Judy Vasseur • Jenne Vath • Gail Veasey • Tony Michael Vecchio • Vee • Albert Velasco • Daniel Venne • Ventiko • Tim Vetter • Edythe Victor • Marlene Vine • Rachel Vine • Anthony Viti • Kazaan Viveiros • Wolf Vogler • Adam Void • Don Voisine • Joseph Von Stengel • Jane Waggoner Deschner • Jane Wagner • Mark Wagner • Ellen Wahl • Mary Walker • Mary Walker • Janice Wallace • Pamela J. Wallace • Pediah Wallace • Jina Wallwork • Kristin Walsh • Gregory Walston • Jan Wandrag • Tom Warren • Judy Rey Wasserman • Jack Waters • John Waters • Adam Watkins • Michael Waugh • Patrick Webb • Joan Weber • William Wegman • Louise Weinberg • Michael Weinberg • Lawrence Weiner • Ejay Weiss • Kristina Weissman • Nikki Weissman • John C. Wells • Priska Wenger Mage • Erica Wessann • Barbara Westermann • Kurt Weston • Bayu Whardana • Ken Whitbeck • Genevieve White • Elaine Whittaker • Lisa Wicka • Mark Wiener • Eric Wilcox • Laura Wilder • Cody T. Williams • Mandy Williams • Wendy Willis • Shannon Willmott • Dirk Wilms • June Wilson • Kate Wilson • Chris Winebrenner • Albert J. Winn • Adam Douglas Winner • Paul Wirhun • Marcus L. Wise • Steven Henning Wolf • Eric Wolfe • Susan Wolfe • Anne Wolk • Connie Wong • Scott Woodard • Jeff Woodbury • Thomas Woodruff • Andrew Wright • Gary Wright • Jeffrey Cyphers Wright • Nancy Wyatt • Pete Wyman • Rob Wynne • Cathy Wysocki • Yao Xiao • Peiran Xu • Lynne Yamamoto • Carrie Yamaoka • Yan Yang • Leigh Yardley • Todd Yeager • Robert Yoder • Plamen Yordanov • Ward Yoshimoto • Daniel Young • Greg Young • Laurence Young • Wayne Young • Cheryl Yun • Pauline Yun • One Zahn • Noit Zakay • Syed Zaman • Nicholas Zann • Niccolomaria Zanzi • Lisa Zaverack • Deborah Zavon • Jody Zellen • O Zhang • Michael Zieff • Chris Zitelli •

Gran Fury: Read My Lips opens at NYU's 80WSE Galleries

2012-01-04T16:51:00.000-05:00

via Steinhardt.nyu.edu/80wse

"Gran Fury: Read My Lips" opens January 31st from 6-8 at NYU's 80WSE Galleries.

Exhibition Dates: January 31st - March 17th, 2012

"Gran Fury: Read My Lips," is the first comprehensive survey documenting the important AIDS activist art collective's work from 1987-1995. The exhibition, curated by Gran Fury and 80WSE Assistant Director Michael Cohen will run from January 31st - March 17th, 2012. The exhibition consists of 15 pieces including give-away reproductions. Gran Fury has reconstituted all but two of the works from archival documentation for this survey with the assistance of the 80WSE staff.

Naming itself after the model of Plymouth automobile used by the New York City Police Department, Gran Fury made public projects that were simultaneously scathing, provocative, stylish and often quite funny. This exhibition conveys the collective's unique voice across a wide variety of media including billboards, postcards, video, posters andpainting. Photographs and records from the period help convey the urgency of the early AIDS crisis that lead many into the streets to demand reforms that changed public policy and saved lives.

Gran Fury's work raised public awareness of AIDS and put pressure on politicians, while sparking debate in sites ranging from the Illinois Senate to the tabloid press of Italy. Bridging the gap between Situationist site-specific art strategies, post-modern appropriation and the Queer activist movement, Gran Fury has been influential to later practitioners. Their work opens up a broader spectrum of understanding about the political and collective art practices that flourished in downtown New York during the Eighties and Nineties.

An 88 page full-color catalogue designed by Gran Fury with mirroring double page cover reproductions will be published by 80WSE press in conjunction with the exhibition; it is the first major publication solely dedicated to their output. As a summary of its productive career, the book reprints historical interviews between Gran Fury and Robert Gober, David Deitcher and Douglas Crimp, as well as three never-before published conversations by Gran Fury from late 2010.

Reproductions of all the major works are included as well as documentation of ACT UP demonstrations and shots of Gran Fury's works installed site-specifically. In addition, images of the site-specific works' defacement by those responding to it, and rare archival images from high points in the collective's career such as the 1991 Venice Biennial controversy are included.

In the 80WSE Windows Gallery, Gran Fury will present a 25-foot window installation, facing Washington Square Park, produced specifically for this exhibition. The installation juxtaposes images of AIDS activist and anti-Gay protestors, encouraging viewers to viscerally experience the polarization in America over health-care issues related to AIDS during the late 1980s and providing historical context necessary for understanding how and why the images in this exhibition were produced.

Works in the Exhibition:

Many of Gran Fury's most important public works --- "Kissing Doesn't Kill," "Welcome to America," and "Women Don't Get Aids," will be reproduced in large-scale mural formats. There will also be a projection of the "Kissing Doesn't Kills" video public service announcements in the gallery along with never-before-seen outtakes. In addition, the exhibition includes several notable give-aways including "Men use Condoms" in an edition of 3000 and postcards from the "Read My Lips" series. Interspersed among these works will be texts and photos that recreate the social and political context which inspired AIDS activism and the demonstrations and actions where Gran Fury's graphic interventions were used.

A third part of this project will be a Gran Fury symposium with the members of Gran Fury interviewed by noted cultural theorist Andrew Ross. The event will held at the NYU/Steinhardt Art School's Einstein Auditorium at 34 Stuyvesant St. in the East Village on February 28 at 6:00 p.m.

The final aspect of the exhibition will be educational. Through a series of workshops Gran Fury will work with a select group of 15 NYU students from the Steinhardt Department of Art and Art Professions and the Gallatin Activism center, as well as 5 participants form the Village Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center to think about the contemporary relationship of art and politics, and to produce activist and collective oriented art works in a manner that is strategically functional in the current decade. The workshop participants' artworks will be exhibited in March 2012 at the Village Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center. The location of this exhibition is particularly meaningful, as it commemorates the Center's role as the locus of the original Act Up meetings that spawned Gran Fury. For further information please contact: Edward Holland or Michael Cohen at 80WSE@nyu.edu or 212-998-5747

The exhibition and panel are free and open to the public.
80wse is located at 80 Washington Square East in Greenwich Village, facing WashingtonSquare.

Gallery hours are Tuesday - Saturday, 10:30 - 6:00

Next Magazine - BENEFITS PACKAGE: Art on The Edge of Change

2012-01-04T10:08:00.000-05:00

via Next Magazine

Visual AIDS raises money for HIV-positive artists with a two-day auction of postcard-size proportions.

There’s no way $85 could get you a piece of art by, say, John Waters, John Baldessari or Yoko Ono, right? Wrong.

At Visual AIDS’ 14th annual fundraiser exhibit, Postcards From the Edge, over 1,500 artists have donated postcard-size works of art that are sold as part of a two-day fundraising effort for the art archive and AIDS advocacy group, and the artists range from first-timers to famous names. The catch is that you won’t know whose art you’ve got until you’ve purchased your selection. “That is the big draw, and it is what makes it unique,” says Nelson Santos, Associate Director of Visual AIDS. “People show up at the preview and…run around and take notes and try to guess whose [art] is whose,” he tells us. “People start lining up hours ahead of time. There are some people who actually camp out overnight.”

The organization, which was founded in 1988, works to preserve the art in danger of neglect as a result of the AIDS epidemic. “[We] archive the work and try to historicize the contribution of HIV-positive artists as well as artists who have died of AIDS,” says Amy Sadao, Executive Director of Visual AIDS. “Most people in their 20s and 30s aren’t thinking, ‘Where would my archive go? How will I keep a record of my work? I should appoint an estate,’” she says. “That was the root of the archive’s programs coming to Visual AIDS—really as a salvaging and a record-keeping project.” In addition, they expect to donate $22,000 worth of arts supplies to HIV-positive artists this year alone.

Visual AIDS typically produces two to three exhibitions at galleries around the city—like the recently closed The Sword of Damocles: Selections from the Frank Moore Archive Project at The Painting Center in Chelsea and a nationwide December 1 screening of Jim Hodges’ non-narrative film, Untitled, in observance of World AIDS Day. These shows help support the art repository. But despite only having two full-time staff members, the archive operates on an annual budget of around $300,000—without an endowment. Postcards From the Edge has become one of their largest annual fundraisers. “Hopefully [we’ll raise] over $70,000,” Sadao tells us. “It turns right over into the program and the operating of the organization.”

Plus, Postcards From the Edge is a great way for newer artists—especially those affected by HIV—to find an audience for their work. “Even though it’s this huge event it becomes a small community,” Santos explains.

Collectors might get lucky enough to pick out a piece by someone famous, but that really isn’t the point—or the best part—of the Visual AIDS fundraiser. At Postcards From the Edge you don’t have to be able to drop $10,000—or even $500—to be able to contribute to a philanthropic endeavor. “[the anonymity] makes the event more democratic,” says the Associate Director. “You’re not buying [the art] because of a name. Hopefully you’re buying it because you really like the work and you want to help a good cause.”

Postcards From the Edge at Cheim & Read Gallery, 547 W 25th St (btwn 10th/11th Aves), Jan 7 from 10am–6pm and Jan 8 from noon–4pm; $5 suggested admission.

This Week: Postcard from the Edge count down!

2012-01-03T18:19:00.000-05:00

The 14th Annual Postcards from the Edge benefit for Visual AIDS is this WEEK!

Featuring artworks by Jeff Koons, Yoko Ono, John Waters, Donald Baechler, Marilyn Minter, Ed Ruscha, Polly Apfelbaum, Adam Fuss, Kiki Smith, John Baldessari, Louise Fishman, Ross Bleckner, Barry McGee, Kay Rosen, Marcel Dzama, Jonathan Lasker, Mary Heilmann, Louise Lawler, Bill Jensen, Jane Hammond, Ann Hamilton, Hans Haacke, William Wegman, Kate Shepherd, Zoe Leonard, Jack Pierson, Lawrence Weiner, Pat Steir, Thomas Woodruff and over 1450 others...!!!

Click HERE for a FULL LIST of ARTISTS.

Tell your friends - and be sure to join us at the Preview Party and Benefit Sale!

All events hosted at Cheim & Read , 547 W 25th St, NYC

BENEFIT SALE - $85 each. (Cash, check, credit cards accepted)
Over 1450 anonymously displayed postcard size artworks

Saturday, January 7, 2012 from 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
$85 each - Buy four and get the fifth as our Thank You.
First-come, first-served. Lines begin early...
• Waiting in line early? The Van Leeuwen truck will be on 25th Street on Saturday at 9 AM with hot coffee and sweet treats.
• Don't want to wait in line...bid on a VIP Access package*

Sunday, January 8, 2012 from 12:00 - 4:00 PM
$85 each - Buy two and get the third as our Thank You.
• Don't like lines, join us on Sunday, hundreds of beautiful artworks and some hidden gems will still be available.

PREVIEW PARTY
Friday, January 6, 2012 from 6:00 - 8:00 PM
The only opportunity to see the entire exhibition. No sales.
$85 admission includes one raffle ticket.
Admission payable at the door. Participating artists attend free.

• RAFFLE
One raffle ticket with price of admission. Additional raffle tickets $10 each.
GRAND PRIZE - First pick of ANY POSTCARD that evening!
Additional Prizes includes - Pearl Paint Gift Card, Chelsea Frames, Museum passes, NY Health & Racquet Club membership and more!

• SILENT AUCTION
Artworks by Mark Beard, Barton Lidice Benes, Suzanne Caporael, Neil Farber, Joy Garnett, Barbara Hammer, David Humphrey, James Jaxxa, Larry Krone, Lucas Michael, Carrie Moyer, Dawit Petros, David Reed and Eric Rhein. Also auction of Second Pick of any postcard that evening, and *VIP Access packages granting "the front of the line" access to Saturday's Postcards from the Edge Benefit Sale. View and bid on artworks here.

Postcards From the Edge is a Visual AIDS benefit show and sale of original, postcard-sized artworks by established and emerging artists. All artwork is exhibited anonymously. While buyers receive a list of all participating artists, they don't know who created which piece until after purchased. With the playing field leveled, all participants can take home a piece by a famous artist, or someone who is just making their debut. Nonetheless, collectors walk away with a piece of art they love, knowing that the money raised will support HIV prevention and AIDS awareness.

Proceeds benefit Visual AIDS. Cash, check, credit cards accepted.

Check out our Facebook page for sneak-peeks.

Share the word - add a link to your Facebook page or blog today!

“Witness” Community Art at Asian Arts Initiative

2012-01-03T13:31:00.001-05:00

via Side Arts

Posted by Carina Giamerese

George Apotsos - Faces Unseen

Currently showing at the Asian Arts Initiative is an exhibition titled Witness: Artists Reflect on 30 Years of the AIDS Pandemic. After visiting the show, I was fortunate to be able to speak with David Acosta, the curator of Witness and a central figure in countless Philadelphia arts organizations and community arts projects. In this, part one of our conversation, Mr. Acosta speaks about his experience curating “Witness”, the purpose of the exhibition, and importance of utilizing art to start conversations about the social and political effects of HIV/AIDS on our communities. Stay tuned for part two of our conversation, in which he offers advice for artists interested in producing their own community arts projects.

Susan DiPronio - The Last Witness // Tay Cha - Helping Hands

“Getting a really broad section of artists across age, race, gender, sexual orientation was a really important consideration [in curating Witness], and the other critical consideration was anchoring the show with some work that had been produced during the most difficult years of the epidemic. A lot of the artists were proposing new work which was very exciting, but I was really seeking artists who had worked through a period of very heightened preoccupation with AIDS and the politics of AIDS with federal policies, [or] the lack thereof, and so I went out very specifically to look for that work. I know HD Ivey who had done a lot of work in that period, [and] I specifically wanted some pieces I remember seeing many many years ago that had been produced in the 80s during the Reagan and Bush years at a very important juncture in the AIDS epidemic politically in this country, as well as socially. I really needed them to be in the show because I wanted to create that plane and that continuity.”

HD Ivey - The Victim // Corral

Acosta described Witness as “powerful and moving but not in a very in your face kind of way. A lot of people came to me and said, ‘[Witness] is not sad, it’s just really beautiful.’ Gabriel Martinez’s “Anthology” for example, which is a lovely piece – those are the 12 albums. He took his Donna Summer LPs and basically destroyed them to create this piece. But it’s just beautiful, and it’s a very moving piece because it’s red, and it’s evocative of blood and body fluid. There’s almost a danger to it, but then it’s also celebratory in the fact that this was the music that a lot of gay men were dancing to in the midst of the epidemic. I think even many gay men were dancing to this music unaware that HIV/AIDS had entered these community circles and would wipe out almost two generations of gay men. So there was an implicit trust in myself that the artists [might] create stuff that could be sad [but] I trusted them to be able to have some reflective distance about the epidemic. So the show allows people to reflect and to go into personal spaces about remembrance and love and loss but not in a way that’s overwhelming.”

Gabriel Martinez - Anthology

He explains that his purpose in curating this exhibition was “not necessarily to call communities to action but to ask communities to bear witness in their own way. Because there’s been 30 years of the epidemic, it’s difficult to draw people’s attention to something that’s been around for so long, [even though it] remains so incredibly central and devastating to some communities where its still having a huge impact – young gay men in this country, for example, [and] specifically young gay men of color. The infection rate [and] the prevalence in some of these communities is high and rivals in many ways some of the numbers that we see coming out of specific parts of Africa. And so it was a way to also have people recognize that it is still present, that it’s still very much a part of the fabric of our communities, however we define those. And also the title was [inspired by] a very important exhibition that was held in NYC [in 1989] curated by Nan Goldin called “Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing.” And that show remains one of the first and most powerful shows [addressing HIV/AIDS]. So in a sense I was also paying homage to that exhibition.”

Kwaku Osei - Untitled // Marta Sanchez - The History of Cascarones

“Witness” is showing through January 25 at Asian Arts Initiative (1219 Vine Street). It will be open for First Friday festivities on January 6, and the show will culminate in a closing program on January 25 that features performances by the “Shout” writing workshop participants, which is taught by one of the exhibiting artists, Susan DiPronio, and is offered in conjunction with “Witness” as a means to continue dialogue and reflection about HIV/AIDS in yet another expression of art.

Web Gallery: If You Didn't Laugh, You'd Cry, curated by Stuart Sandford

2012-01-01T14:49:00.000-05:00

Starting off 2012, Stuart Sandford curates If You Didn't Laugh, You'd Cry, featuring artwork by Archive Members; Alex Aleixo, Phillip Calkins, Jimmy DeSana, Carlos Gutierrez-Solana, Derek Jackson, Amado Jimenez, Edurado Mirales, Mark Morrisroe, Juan Rivera, Juan Sanchez, Tseng Kwong Chi, and David Wojnarowicz .

From the Curator's Statement:

Humor within a fine art context is often looked down upon. If all it does is make one smile or make one laugh then does it really have any value as art? Spanning almost 20 years and with a focus on the male form, the works I’ve selected for January’s web gallery are in turns sexual, political, celebratory and most definitely have a sense of humor.

Of course, recognizing the power of retaining a sense of humor in adversity is intrinsic to the human condition in overcoming it and is one of the few concepts that separates us from our animal cousins. No apes sit around regaling each other with tales of mirth about a lost companion. Or do they? It could be that we simply don’t understand. (read more)

About the Curator:
Stuart Sandford received his B.A. Fine Art, with Honours, in 2006. He has exhibited his photographic, video and installation work in New York, London, Berlin, Basel, Rotterdam, Rome, Madrid, Copenhagen and Vienna, amongst others. In 2010 he curated the group show HUNG and co-curated Boy BANG Boy, both of which took place in London. His work has been featured in magazines internationally, including BUTT, GT, Maenner, Kaiserin, attitude and Basso, and he is currently embarking on a year long performance project entitled Bodybuilding. He lives and works in London.

image: Juan Rivera, Untitled (Keith Haring), 1985-8. C-print

Silent Auction at Postcards from the Edge Preview Party

2011-12-28T13:08:00.000-05:00

Silent Auction @ Postcards From the Edge Preview Party

January 6 from 6-8 PM

One night only silent auction of artworks by renowned artists will be held during the Postcard from the Edge Preview Party on Friday, January 6 from 6-8 PM. VIP access packages granting "the front of the line" access to Saturday's for Postcards from the Edge Benefit Sale will also be auctioned*. See details below.

Admission to Preview Party is $85, payable at the door. Bidding will begin at 6:00 PM and conclude at 7:30 PM. To place an advance bid or to arrange a proxy bidder, contact Visual AIDS at 212-627-9855 or info@visualAIDS.org

Silent Auction

Mark Beard

Untitled Male Nude, 1998

Polaroid transfer on paper, 22” x 15” (AP 2 of 3)
Courtesy of the artist and ClampArt
Starting bid: $300 / Retail value: $1,500

Barton Lidice Beneš

Pink, 2011

mixed media on paper, 30” x 22 ¾"

Courtesy of the artist and Pavel Zoubok Gallery

Starting bid: $2500 / Retail value: $6,000 (unframed)

Suzanne Caporael

Untitled, 2010
Monoprint, 19 ¾" x 15 ¾", Edition MP A/Y#20100.MP

Courtesy of the artist and Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe

Starting bid: $800 / Retail value: $4,000

Eva & Adele
Ocean View (Art Basel Miami Beach), 2011
Mixed media on cloth (cotton pads, paper, stickers, thread, ballpoint pen on cloth napkin), Unique, 12” x 12”
Courtesy of the artists
Starting Bid: $900 / Retail price: $5,000

Neil Farber

Sadness Festival, 2011

acrylic on birch, 18"x14"

Courtesy of the artist

Starting bid $800 / Retail value $4,000

Joy Garnett

Paris Riots (#10), 2005
oil on wood panel, 11" x 14"

Courtesy of the artist and Winkleman Gallery, NY

Starting bid: $400 / Retail value: $1,000

Barbara Hammer

I WAS / I AM (triptych), 1972
photography, 10" x 26"
Courtesy of the artist & Banff Cenrtre for the Arts
Starting bid $700 / Retail value $1,000

David Humphrey

Master of Donald, 2010
acrylic on canvas, 18" x 18"
Courtesy of the artist and Fredericks Freiser Gallery
Starting bid: $500 / Retail value: $3,000

James Jaxxa

PAID, 2006
Plexiglas, glitter, nail enamel and wire, 2 ½" x 6" x ¼”
Courtesy of the artist
Starting bid: $250 / Retail value: $1,500

Larry Krone
Love is in the Air (Kailua Beach), 2007
ink on printed paper, acid free tape, 10 5/8" x 7"
Courtesy of the artist
Starting bid: $200 / Retail value: $950 (framed)

Lucas Michael

The Invert (1927), 1948-1969, 2007
Graphite and ink on paper, 11" x 14"

Courtesy of the artist and Silverman Gallery
Starting bid: $450 / Retail value: $900 (framed)

Carrie Moyer
Elixir, 2009
Screenprint and glitter flocking, 30" x 21 ¼”

Courtesy of the artist
Starting bid: $600 / Retail value: $1,000

Dawit L. Petros

Untitled (Blue Falls), 2011
Chromogenic print, Edition: Unique, 20” x 24”

Courtesy of the artist

Starting bid: $500 / Retail value: $3,500

David Reed

Studio Study #57, 2011

alkyd on illustration board, 8" x 10"

Courtesy of the artist and Peter Blum Gallery
Starting bid: $300 / Retail value: $750

Eric Rhein
Frank the Visionkeeper (for Frank Moore 1953-2002), 2002-2011
(from Leaves, an AIDS memorial, conceived in 1996)
wire on paper, 16” x 13” x 2”

Courtesy of the artist
Starting bid: $500 / Retail value: $1,500 (framed)

STAY WARM
SLEEP IN
and still be one of the first in line at
Postcards From the Edge!

* Bid on the opportunity to be one of TEN people to receive VIP ACCESS to Postcards From the Edge. The ten highest bidders will get in the front of the line on Saturday, January 7, 2012. VIP ACCESS allows you to go directly to the front of the line ... NO WAITING. You will be allowed in the gallery as soon as the doors open at 10:00 AM. You must arrive at the gallery by 9:45 am, or lose your place in line -- no refunds. Once the doors open, those behind you in line will also be let into the gallery.

New Edgy HIV Awareness PSA

2011-12-27T14:19:00.000-05:00

Creating is Giving...Cheers from Visual AIDS

2011-12-20T12:56:00.000-05:00

Season's Greetings from Visual AIDS. 2011 has been a tremendous year for Visual AIDS. One in which we considered the role of creating as we observed the 30 years of HIV. As the only contemporary arts organization fully committed to HIV prevention and AIDS awareness through producing and presenting visual art projects, while assisting artists living with HIV/AIDS, here are some idea of what creating means to us.

Creating is Connecting: For our Day With(Out) Art, we collaborated with over 65 screening partners nationwide to present UNTITLED, a film by Jim Hodges, Encke King, and Carlos Marques da Cruz.

Creating is Inspiring: Our exhibition entitled, MIXED MESSAGES, curated by John Chaich at La Mama La Galleria, received engaging reviews from ArtForum.com and The New York Times.

Creating is Honoring: Marking the 20^th anniversary of the Red Ribbon, an essay by Visual AIDS Executive Director, Amy Sadao was featured on CNN.com.

Creating is Giving: Help Visual AIDS keep the creating going. By making the largest gift you can this season, you are helping guarantee that more art is created, experienced, and discussed to help in the fight against AIDS.

Thank you for considering Visual AIDS in your year-end giving, your giving directly impacts the creating process.

New films about AIDS & it's politics take a look back (and forward)

2011-12-20T10:57:00.000-05:00

HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE

David France, Director

David France, T. Woody Richman, and Tyler Walk, Screenwriters
U.S.A., 2012, 120 min, color,

Faced with their own mortality, an improbable group of mostly HIV-positive young men and women broke the mold as radical warriors taking on Washington and the medical establishment. How to Survive a Plague is the story of two coalitions—ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group)—whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time. With unfettered access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and '90s, filmmaker David France puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant breakthroughs of heroes in the making. Screening at SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL, JAN 19-29, 2012

United in Anger Trailer from United in Anger on Vimeo.

UNITED IN ANGER

Jim Hubbard, Director

Presented by Jim Hubbard and Sarah Schulman

U.S.A., 2012, color,

WE WERE HERE

David Weissman, Director and Producer

Bill Weber, Editor and Co-Director

U.S.A., 2011, 90 min, color

We Were Here documents the coming of what was called the “Gay Plague” in the early 1980s. It illuminates the profound personal and community issues raised by the AIDS epidemic as well as the broad political and social upheavals it unleashed. It offers a cathartic validation for the generation that suffered through, and responded to, the onset of AIDS. It opens a window of understanding to those who have only the vaguest notions of what transpired in those years. It provides insight into what society could, and should, offer its citizens in the way of medical care, social services, and community support.

UNTITLED

A film by Jim Hodges, Encke King, and Carlos Marques da Cruz.

Distributed by Visual AIDS

U.S.A., 2010, 60 minutes, Color, DVD

Beginning with a reflection on the early AIDS epidemic, Untitled eschews a linear narrative to introduce a fractious timeline, moving from the sublime to the tragic and back again. By juxtaposing mainstream network news, activist footage, artists' work, and popular entertainment from the last turbulent decades, Untitled references regimes of power that precipitated a generation of AIDS and queer activism and continues today with international struggle and expression.

Celebraty judges join design jury for AIDS Memorial Park

2011-12-15T13:42:00.000-05:00

via ABC News

Whoopi Goldberg joins design jury for AIDS park

NEW YORK -- Actress Whoopi Goldberg and shoe designer Kenneth Cole have joined the jury that will choose a design for an AIDS memorial park in New York City.

The memorial is planned for a triangle across the street from the former St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village. The property is now owned by Rudin Management.

The memorial park is intended to honor the more than 100,000 people who have died from AIDS in the city and to celebrate the efforts of AIDS caregivers and activists. Entries for the design competition are due Jan. 21.

The memorial organizers said Wednesday that actresses Susan Sarandon and Julianne Moore have joined as supporters of the effort. Sarandon says the park will be "an inspirational, educational and green public oasis."

AIDS Memorial Park Design Competition

2011-12-15T13:33:00.000-05:00

via Architizer

AIDS Memorial Park Design Competition from Beechwood Film on Vimeo.

The New York City AIDS Memorial Park Campaign is a coalition of individuals and organizations dedicated to the recognition and preservation of the ongoing history of the AIDS crisis. In the 30th year of the epidemic, we seek to honor the more than 100,000 New York City men, women and children who have died from AIDS, and to commemorate and celebrate the efforts of the caregivers and activists who responded heroically to the crisis. We represent artists, health care providers, historians, family, friends and neighbors committed to remembering the history of the crisis.

New York City still has no significant public AIDS memorial. Simply stated, we believe that we can fill that void by engaging the community, architects, designers, and urban planners in the design process, in order to create a memorial park that provides a much-needed inspirational, educational and green public oasis for the city and surrounding community.

For more info visit queerhistoryalliance.org or click here for design competition details.

Visual AIDS Holiday Party + Artists Talk

2011-12-13T15:45:00.000-05:00

Join Visual AIDS for an Artists Talk and Holiday Party at The Painting Center this Thursday, December 15, 2011.

Holiday Party for Visual AIDS from 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Have a glass of cheer and come celebrate an exciting year for us, plus pick up some fun stocking stuffers, including PLAY SMART trading cards, NOT OVER buttons, and tote bags.

Artists & Curator Talk begins at 6:30 PM
Bradford Branch and Joseph Stabilito speak with curator and artist, Patrick Webb. The Sword of Damocles contemplates the pandemic as seen through the transformation of twelve mid-career artists, who are also long-term survivors living with HIV.

The Painting Center
547 West 27th Street, Suite 500, NYC
Exhibition runs through December 23, 2011
Gallery hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11-6 PM

Ron Athey/Julie Tolentino Resonate/Obliterate

2011-12-13T15:43:00.000-05:00

The Self-Obliteration cycle has been presented in Bristol, Lyon, Nancy, Portland, Victoria, Krems, Los Angeles, Ottawa, Montreal, Warsaw, Berlin, Riverside, London, Naples, Madrid, Glasgow, Ljubljana, and Bourges: this will be the final performance. Julie Tolentino's The Sky Remains the Same, her physical archiving of Self-Obliteration has been performed in Los Angeles, Riverside, and House of World Cultures, Berlin. This will be the final performance on the night that this work has been a meditation on presenting, a sexualized living corpse: December 16th is Athey's 50th birthday. In a post-AIDS reality, post doesn't mean after-, but some other kind of monster.

RSVP lia@participantinc.org TICKETS $20
pre-show reception 7p
performance at 8p
post-performance reception with DJ Scott Ewalt

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE - Sneak-Peek & Preview Party

2011-12-13T15:37:00.000-05:00

GET A SNEAK-PEEK AT POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE

PREVIEW PARTY
Friday, January 6, 2012 from 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Join us for a Sneak Peek! It's the only opportunity to see the entire exhibition! Look only - No sales.
$85 Admission (participating artists attend free) includes a raffle ticket for the chance to pick the FIRST postcard that evening. Preview party will also include a silent auction of small artworks and VIP Postcard packages.

CAN'T WAIT?!?
Starting this week, get a peek at some of the artwork on Facebook. More images will be added daily, until the Benefit Sale. While you are there, be sure to "like" Visual AIDS! (We like you too!)

BENEFIT SALE
Saturday, January 7, 2012 from 10:00 - 6:00 (Buy four and get a bonus fifth)
Sunday, January 8, 2012 from 12:00 - 4:00 (Buy two and get a bonus third)
Over 1500 anonymous displayed postcard-size masterpieces. All works only $85 each!
Click here for more information.

ARTISTS & CURATOR TALK: The Sword of Damocles

2011-12-09T10:30:00.000-05:00

Artists & Curator Talk: Thursday, December from 6-8 PM

Join Visual AIDS and The Painting Center for a talk with artists, Bradford Branch and Joseph Stabilito and the curator of The Sword of Damocles, Patrick Webb.

The Sword of Damocles: Selections from the Frank Moore Archive presents a range of work from twelve mid-career artists, who are also long-term survivors living with HIV. As we mark 30 years of AIDS, The Sword of Damocles contemplates the pandemic as seen through the transformation of these artists’ work over time. Drawing exclusively from Visual AIDS’s Frank Moore Archive Project, curator Patrick Webb sought to find parallels in the evolution of long-term survivors’ paintings. Featuring the work of Bradford Branch, Jerry Frost, Michael Golden, Frank Holliday, Martin Klug, Jonathan Leiter, Michael Lownie, Ricardo Morin, Joseph Stabilito, Pete Wyman, and Laurence Young.

“In 1992 I witnessed the death of my boyfriend of 14 years. I never imagined I would outlive him by almost 20 years. I am fortunate to be alive, though at times feel poised on the edge of an abyss. The experience has shaped my sense of self and the development of my work. I hope to bring that perspective as a painter to my selection of paintings." - Patrick Webb

"Every painting is a personal journey; an evolving dialogue about what I’ve learned in relation to color, texture, and line. For me, the process itself is the struggle…and the joy". - Joseph Stabilito

Watch the NY1 segment about The Sword of Damocles here.

Exhibition runs through December 23, 2011

The Painting Center
547 West 27th Street, Suite 500, NYC
Gallery hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11-6 PM

Images
Top (left to right): Bradford Branch, Oranges and Glass Vase, 1994; Joseph Stabilito, Prayer for My Father, 1992; Patrick Webb, By Punchinello's Bed, 1992.
Bottom (left to right): Bradford Branch, Still Life with Orchids, 1999; Joseph Stabilito, Blood Flowers, 2010; Patrick Webb, House of Cards, 2004-06.

Untitled (discussion) - Dec 1, 2011

2011-12-08T15:18:00.000-05:00

"Untitled" Screening and Discussion in Commemoration of World AIDS Day/Day With(out)Art from creativetime on Vimeo.

In commemoration of World AIDS Day/Day With(out) Art, Visual AIDS and Creative Time presented screenings of "Untitled," a film by Jim Hodges, Encke King, and Carlos Marques, followed by a discussion with respondents Malik Gaines, Che Gossett, and Shanti Avirgan.

The discussion raised questions, such as:

How do we make sure that the "history of AIDS activism" is not written in a single voice?

How do we continue the line of activism and who's job is it to pass or grab the baton?

How can we continue to occupy a politics of HIV prevention justice that treats AIDS as an intersectional and cross cutting issue that is crucial for our collective liberation?