Air snow on your face
Le mie parole / My words
Sono parole amare / I love words
Senza motivo / Without reason
Prima o poi tra le nostre mani / Sooner or later in our hands
Più niente resterà / More nothing will remain
After Everything: Gay Directions in New Art
June 20th – July 6th 2008
Opening Reception Friday June 20th 6:30-10:00pm
Like the Spice is pleased to present After Everything: Gay Directions in New Art, an exhibition examining the art of gay artists in the post-everything society. Curated by Dylan Peet, the show features a diverse selection of works by eight artists: Joseph Heidecker, Clarke Jackson, Sean M. Johnson, Darren Lee Miller, Ian O’Phelan, Jesse Finley Reed, Christopher Schulz and Steed Taylor.
A queer sensibility has run through much of contemporary art since the end of abstract expressionism. Gay artists such as Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Keith Haring and John Waters have had major effects on the art and pop-cultural landscape. While their art is hardly restricted to gay subject matter, a queer sensibility sits at the bedrock of their production. From pop’s cool fabulousness to John Waters’ polymorphically perverse outsider’s take on everything to artists coping with the massive scope of the AIDS crisis, gay issues have been at the center of art history since the fifties.
Recently there is a seismic shift in what it means to be gay. Factors driving this change are the internet’s inherent capacity for social networking and increasing visibility, legal protections and acceptance of gay men. The era of a hermetically sealed gay culture, hiding in the closet or in gay bars is over. Now gay men interact with a much broader range of society and in a greatly expanded context, they also interact with men from across the world online. There is a new generation of gay men who came out at 16, took their boyfriends to the prom without hassle and hardly see the point of going to a gay bar. This exhibition examines some of the ways artists are expressing, reacting to and using these new conditions and remembering the old ones in their work.
Joseph Heidecker’s manipulated busts and photographs explore decoration, masks, identity and how we present ourselves as image. Clarke Jackson explores obsession, voyeurism and isolation in his digitally modeled narrative series, EXTREME_ankleCAM.com. In his photo-social experiments Sean M. Johnson creates situations where men interact in innocently sexualized exchanges recalling childhood games. Darren Lee Miller’s photographs explore homosocial power dynamics in familiar scenarios. Ian O’Phelan’s portraits of men rest squarely between irony, sentimentality and romance. Through makeup and lighting Jesse Finley Reed transforms the utilitarian spaces and average bodies in his photographs into sites of allegory and the uncanny. Pinups Magazine, Christopher Schulz’s conceptual erotic periodical combines vintage porn aesthetics and body politics with a post-bear twist. In his series Road Tattoos, Steed Taylor transforms the commemoration, communication and ritual associated with tattoos into moving public art actions.
{224 Roebling Street. Brooklyn, NY 11211} {718-388-5388} {info@likethespice.com} {Mon, Wed – Sat 12-8:00, Sun 12-7:00}
Thursday June 5, 2008
Ghettogloss (2380 Glendale Blvd., Silverlake, CA 90039)
Guerrilla Gorilla Thursday – outdoor movie night
Guilty Pleasures – Featuring new works by Ryan Graeff, Sharktoof & Pingping
7:00pm to 11:00pm
Exhibition runs through June 16, 2008
323-912-0008
http://www.ghettogloss.com
Friday June 6, 2008
LA LUZ DE JESUS GALLERY (4633 Hollywood Blvd, LA CA 90027)
Bone Orchard – Bonni Reid
Analog Punch – Cameron Tiede
8:00pm to 11:00pm
Exhibition runs through June 29, 2008
323-666-7667
http://www.laluzdejesus.com
M.J. HIGGINS FINE ART & FURNISHINGS (400 S. Main Street #103, LA CA 90013)
Neon Vacation – Melissa Sims
M.J. HIGGINS ART & EVENTS (519 S. Spring Street, LA CA 90013)
Past, Present, and Future – Luis Sanchez
FRIDAY: 12:00pm to 9:00pm
SATURDAY: 12:00pm to 9:00pm
SUNDAY: 12:00pm to 8:00pm
213-617-1700
http://www.mjhiggins.com
Saturday June 7, 2008
Billy Shire Fine Arts (5790 Washington Blvd., Culver City 90232)
Niagara – designer van’s shoe release
7:00pm to 9:00pm
323-297-0600
http://billyshirefinearts.com
Chango Coffee House & Gallery (1559 Echo Park Ave. LA CA 90026)
Wall Flowers – Andrea LaHue
Exhibition runs through June 30, 2008
323-977-9161
www.myspace.com/changocoffeehouse
DDRprojects Art Gallery (1532 E. Broadway, Long Beach, CA 90802)
Survey – John Bell
8:00pm to 10:00pm
562-590-9030
www.ddrprojects.com
Garage gallery (4341 Kingswell Ave LA CA 90027)
Sebastian Boher
8:00pm to midnight
one night only
http://www.garagegalleryla.com/
The Hive Gallery (729 South Spring St., LA CA 90014)
Hive Gallery & Studios June Group Show
8:00pm to midnight
Opening night – $8 door
Exhibition runs through June 28, 2008
http://www.thehivegallery.com
JANCAR GALLERY (3875 Wilshire Blvd. #1308, LA CA 90010)
Cool and Austere – group show
5:00pm to 7:00pm
Exhibition runs through June 28, 2008
213-384-8077
http://www.jancargallery.com
New Image Art (7908 Santa Monica Blvd., LA CA 90046)
Ginger– group exhibition
project room: Fake Indian – Jim Brown
7:00pm to 10:00pm
Exhibition runs through July 12, 2008
323-654-2192
www.newimageartgallery.com
Orange County Center For Contemporary Art (117 N Sycamore. Santa Ana, CA 92701)
Enclosed, Encased & Enrobed – Darlyn Susan Yee, Christina Ponce, Yun Bai, and The Nipple Project
6:00pm to 10:00pm
Exhibition runs through June 28, 2008
http://www.occca.org
Scion Installation L.A. (3521 Helms Avenue (at National) Culver City,
CA. 90232)
Travel & Document – The Haley Collective
7:00pm to 10:00pm
Exhibition runs through June 29, 2008
310-815-8840
http://www.scion.com/space
Sunday June 8, 2008
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