The Queer Show Part 1

Hal Bromm Gallery is excited to present THE QUEER SHOW, Part I, the first exhibition
in a new series which traces the formation of our modern notion of queerness through 50 years of contemporary art. We observe the ways in which these artists break down topics of identity, culture, and sexuality, rejecting normative modes of representation in favor of imagining new forms of expression. Part I features the works of Carlos Alfonzo, John Ashbury, Christian Brechneff, Keith Davis, Darrell Ellis, Miguel Ferrando, Luis Frangella, Mark Golderman, Roni Horn, Jess, Tim Lovejoy, Slava Mogutin, Dirk Rowntree, Russell Sharon, Pamela Sneed, Larry Stanton, Gail Thacker, David Wojnarowicz, and Martin Wong.

Over the last 50 years, the word “Queer” has become prevalent within our culture as both
an identity and an ideology. Queer scholarship since the 1990s has sought to shift our cultural understanding of non-heteronotmative sexual identities by reading against existing material, unearthing the queerness that has been ever-present within our culture, yet has been suppressed. Queerness then becomes a way to both see the world and exist within it. To see the world through a queer lens is to see below the surface of things, questioning their motives and imagining ways in which they can be transformed to reveal new meanings. To identify as queer is to not only identify outside of heteronormative sexual expression, but to identify oneself as part of larger intersectional community that seeks to work against ascribed norms of representation and understanding. To ‘queer’ something is to understand it within a context of infinite possibilities, and infinite identities. Queerness, in terms of sexual identity, is an understanding of human sexuality that moves beyond the binary of straight/gay, recognizing the varied social dimensions present within the formation of identity. It acts as a political category, a philosophy, a state of being, a means through which those outside of the heteronormative mode of existence can find community.

Queer people, despite being on the margins of society, have always been at the forefront
of the avant-garde, smuggling narratives of queerness into the greater canon of contemporary art. This exhibition celebrates the legacy of queer artists seeking to develop new modes of expression, reevaluating the works of these artists with a contemporary queer perspective. Allowing them to transform through and beyond binary gay/straight narratives and to recognize them for their radical work in redefining how queer people are represented within visual culture. Now more than ever is the time to forefront the queerness of society. In a time of unprecedented political division and an increasingly intolerant social climate where the rights of queer and transgender people are at risk across the globe, we must work harder than ever to support those whose work pushes back against bigotry, and celebrates the joy and freedom within queer existence. Building on Hal Bromm’s historic legacy of supporting queer artists, this exhibition serves as a reminder that queer people are not new, but that they have always been here, and they will continue to be here despite efforts to silence and eradicate them.