featured gallery for July 1999

DESIRE IN THE WEB

I am currently fascinated by contemporary photography. I am very interested in exploring images of masculinity within the medium. This selection from the Visual AIDS' Archive Project is comprised of 11 photographers engaged in portraiture, conceptions of the male body and issues of desire. HIV and AIDS have too quickly created a contemporary visual history of the sadly ravaged male body. More than ever before, in the visual history of its representation, the male body has become the battleground of great political, social and economic forces, making it extremely fragile and ephemeral. However, what strikes me about these 22 images is their sensuality. These works not only effectively feed my "professional curatorial concerns," but also much of the unapologetic voyeurism I am personally capable of. It is true that through them I journey richly from health to illness, from beauty to pathos. But as I finish visually consuming them, as any spectator does, sadness is not what defines my mood, but the strangely mundane post-orgasmic feeling that the day must go on without any great drama because these artists have successfully portrayed the often inevitable emotional and physical messiness of life. Desire does co-exist with death; the body of a young man with HIV or AIDS is still the body of a young man. The self-portrait of an artist with HIV or AIDS is not completely defined by that laboratory fact. Thus, these are works that refuse to be encased by that news; they put forth too much beauty and elicit too much desire for that.

1. Bern Boyle, "Photo of Art Livermore," 1981
6" x 4" postcard

2. Bern Boyle, "Portrait of Michael Wilson," 1989
6" x 4" postcard

3. Bruce Cratsley, "Rodin Bronze, Brooklyn Museum," 1990
10" x 10" silver gelatin print

4. Bruce Cratsley, "Mannequin Family, East 30’s, NYC," 1994
10" x 10" silver gelatin print

5. Bruce Cratsley, "French Legs," 1989
10" x 10" silver gelatin print

6. Bruce Cratsley, "Greek Kouros, Munich," 1982
10" x 10" silver gelatin print

7. Bruce Cratsley, "Body Heat, East Village, New York City," 1990
10" x 10" silver gelatin print

8. Bruce Cratsley, "Body of Light," 1987
10" x 10" silver gelatin print

9. Jimmy DeSana, "Auto," 1980
dimensions unknown, cibachrome glossy print

10. Jimmy DeSana, "Soap Suds," 1980
16" x 20" c-print

11. Jimmy DeSana, "Vaseline," 1986
20" x 16" cibachrome glossy print

12. Jimmy DeSana, "Pool," 1980
20" x 24" color print

13. Michael Harwood, "Huck, Lollipops and Pollock Book," 1996
24" x 18" two color prints

14. Edward T. Lightner, "Cultural Death," 1998
15.5" x 13" photo, frame, paper, lettering, and acrylic

15. Edward T. Lightner, "Sexual Freedom," 1998
15.5" x 13" photo, frame, paper, lettering, and acrylic

16. Mark Morrisroe, "Untitled, Self Portrait Standing in the Shower," 1981
20" x 16" color photograph

17. Mark Morrisroe, "Self with Broken Arm," 1985
9.5" x 15" color photograph

18. Mark Morrisroe, "Fascination," 1983
20" x 16" color photograph

19. Mark Morrisroe, "Baby Steffanelli," 1985
16" x 11" color photograph

20. Luna Luis Ortiz, "Cleo as Marilyn," 1996
8" x 11" color photography

21. Luna Luis Ortiz, "Self Portrait 1," 1996
8" x 11" color photography

22. Luna Luis Ortiz, "Lovely Cleo," 1996
8" x 11" color photography

25. Ferenc Suto, "Untitled," 1992
20" x 16" gelatin silver print

26. Ferenc Suto, "Untitled," 1986
2.25" x 2" gelatin silver print

27. Jorge Veras, "After Hours in South Beach Florida I," 1995
35mm chrome slide

28. Jorge Veras, "Javier in the LES, NYC IV," 1990
25mmc chrome slide

29. Jorge Veras, "The It Twins at the Red Door, NYC," 1989
35mm chrome slide

30. Joel Wateres, "Nude Wrestlers," 1996
16" x 20" color photography

31. Joel Wateres, "Mom," 1995
16" x 20" color photography

32. Albert Winn, "My Life Until Now," 1991
39" x 49" black and white print

33. Albert Winn, "My Life Until Now," 1991
39" x 49" black and white gelatin silver print