ART+ Positive & Electric Blanket with Leslie-Lohman Museum

Visual AIDS partnered with the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art on the final public program for Images on which to build, 1970s-1990s, curated by Ariel Goldberg.

This event celebrated two pivotal AIDS-related projects: Electric Blanket, a public projection created by Nan Goldin, Allen Frame, and Frank Franca with Visual AIDS in the 1990s, and the work of ART+ Positive, an artist collective that included Lola Flash, Julie Tolentino, Aldo Hernández, Hunter Reynolds, Leon Mostovoy, and Ray Navarro–among others.

Moderated by curator Ariel Goldberg, this event provided space for New York based members of these two groups, Lola Flash, Allen Frame, Frank Franca, and Aldo Hernández, to reflect on endurance and resilience, collective organizing in their art practice, and the material realities of these works.

Aldo Hernandez was born in Cuba, raised in California, and lives in New York City. His cross-disciplinary work includes; curator, archivist, librarian, photographer, graphics, soundscapes and event dj. In the early 1980’s, Hernandez operated the groundbreaking Mercury Arts Center in Long Beach, CA, presenting visual and sound artists as diverse as Bill Viola, Lydia Lunch, Iris Rose, & Joshua Fried. After moving to New York, he worked at MoMA and Creative Time as a Development Officer and a music/poetry curator. A member of ACT UP, a founder of the ART+POSITIVE collective, and curator of the "Army of Lovers" exhibition at the PS 122 Art Gallery, Aldo also created MEAT in 1990, a gay club night and arts lab. In 1995, he opened Throb, a dance music shop.

Hernandez is a curatorial collaborator, archivist and the librarian at Howl! Arts / Howl! Archive in downtown New York City. He's currently organizing their multi-media exhibition "Brian Butterick and all he loved” open June 15 through July 30.

Working at the forefront of genderqueer visual politics for more than four decades, photographer Lola Flash’s work challenges stereotypes and gender, sexual, and racial preconceptions. An active member of ACT UP during the time of the AIDS epidemic in New York City, Flash was notably featured in the 1989 “Kissing Doesn’t Kill” poster. Their art and activism are profoundly connected, fueling a life-long commitment to visibility and preserving the legacy of LGBTQIA+ and communities of color worldwide. Flash has work included in important collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, MoMA, the Whitney, he Museum of the African American of History and Culture and the Brooklyn Museum. They are currently a proud member of the Kamoinge Collective, and on the Board of Queer Art. Flash received their bachelor's degree from Maryland Institute and Masters’ from London College of Printing, in the UK. Flash works primarily in portraiture, engaging those who are often deemed invisible. Flash’s practice is firmly rooted in social justice advocacy around sexual, racial, and cultural difference. Flash’s recent monograph "Believable: Traveling with My Ancestors" is out now from The New Press

Frank Franca is a photographer, curator and creative director. Born and raised in Havana, Cuba, he later also spent time growing up and living in Spain, the US, and the UK. His work has been exhibited and published internationally. Publications include: Aperture, Art Forum, Art in America, BOMB, The New York Times Magazine, Vogue (US), Vogue (Germany), ID, Vice, PDN, Marie Claire, Details, W, The Village Voice, Le Monde (Paris), The African Sun (Cairo), The Guardian (London), Photo (Japan), Die Ziet (Germany) among others. Exhibitions include: Royal Festival Hall (London), Matte Editions (Brooklyn), Gitterman Gallery (New York), Studio Galleria (Budapest), Institutes for Contemporary Art: Kaliningrad and Ekaterinberg (Russia) The International Center of Photography (ICP in NYC), Hamburg House of Photography, Museum of Nonconformist Art (St Petersburg, Russia,) and others.

Allen Frame is a photographer and writer, represented by Gitterman Gallery. His book Fever was published in 2021 by Matte Editions, color work in NYC in 1981; his book Innamorato has just been published by Meteoro Editions, and his book Whereupon, bxw work from the late 70s to the early 90s, will be published by Palermo Publications in the fall.

He is a winner of the 2017/2018 Rome Prize in Visual Arts from the American Academy in Rome and CEC Artslink's Residency in St Petersburg, Russia, in 2019. He teaches photography at Pratt Institute, School of Visual Arts, and the International Center of Photography.