It Feels like Love but it's the Drugs, Curated by José Luis Cortés

José Luis Cortés, a Visual AIDS artist member, attended the earliest meetings of The Archive Project back in 1994 and was part of Visual AIDS' first exhibition The First Ten (1995). He was the subject in the 1995 Day Without Art poster (see above).

Last year his work was featured in VIAL—a large project presented by the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico—and he is currently sharing his skills as an artist working with urban youth in Puerto Rico.
It is fitting then—with Cortés' history and ongoing work—that he would curate June's web gallery, kicking off our NOT OVER exhibition series. NOT OVER is a series of events and exhibitions that examines the deep cultural history of AIDS while exploring the contemporary intersection between art, AIDS and activism. Picking up on themes such as desire, sex, love, inhibition, connection, communication, risk, danger and excitement, Cortés' gallery highlights many of the ongoing intersections that NOT OVER includes. Entitled IT FEELS LIKE LOVE BUT IT'S THE DRUGS, Cortés' gallery reminds us that the body is central to discussions around HIV/AIDS and that what we do with our bodies is important, interesting, and at the root of much great art.

View IT FEELS LIKE LOVE BUT IT'S THE DRUGS featuring David Wojnarowicz, Benjamin Fredrickson, Martin Wong, Jimmy De Sana, Frederick Weston, John Lesnick, Robert Blanchon, Ali, Hector Toscano, Michael Mitchell, and Hugh Steers

Each month, Visual AIDS invites guest curators, drawn from both the arts and AIDS communities, to select several works from the Frank Moore Archive Project and Visual AIDS Artists Registry. View past Web Gallery here.