From top: John Arsenault’s ‘There Never Was a Woman of My Dreams,’ 2004, chromogenic print, courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, and Christopher Makos’ ‘Untitled #9.26,’ from ‘Altered Images,’ 1981, courtesy of Yancey Richardson Gallery.
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By RAFAEL RISEMBERG
Friday, May 25, 2007
If the trend seen in New York exhibits continues, photography will eclipse painting as the medium of choice of gay male artists. Its immediacy, intimacy and versatility in spanning both documentary and fiction are leading artists to embrace photography as never before. Currently showing in Chelsea are three quality solo exhibits by queer artists, in galleries that specialize in photography.
‘Warhol: Vintage Portraits’ from ‘Altered Images’ Series
A friend and colleague of the late Andy Warhol, photographer Christopher Makos captured Warhol in drag for two days in 1981. Widely known to have worn men’s blond hairpieces, Warhol here dons a variety women’s wigs. Warhol’s face is heavily made up, and he is clad in a man’s white shirt with plaid tie, or—in some cases—a white sheet wrapped around his torso, his shoulders bare. Though Warhol appears strained and even gruff in some of the works, in others he exudes a leonine confidence that often eluded him in public appearances. Makos, who art directed Warhol’s first photography book two years earlier, shows an appealingly game side to the socially awkward Pop Art megastar. Yancey Richardson Gallery, 535 W. 22nd St., 3rd Fl., 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Tues.–Sat., until June 29, yanceyrichardson.com, 646-230-9610.
‘Facing West, From California’s Shores’
Roberto De Luna, a New York native, is currently showing both color and black-and-white images of California from the period when he lived in Los Angeles. Though the works were photographed around 1999, De Luna decided to utilize vintage Polaroid cameras from the ’60s and ’70s to convey nostalgia and romance. In some of the more interesting pieces he replaces the lenses with pinholes; the resulting scenes of suburban homes and public beaches are soothingly gauzy and dreamlike. And while people are visible from a distance in a number of photos, the only human close-up we see is a portrait of the artist sporting sunglasses and tattoos, taken on the Santa Monica Beach. Landscapes seem to be the focus of De Luna’s California dreamin’. Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art: 511 W. 25th St., 3rd Fl., 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Tues.–Sat., until June 10, phhfineart.com, 646-827-9890.
‘Filthy Gorgeous’
For humor and poignancy, the exhibit to catch is John Arsenault’s playfully revealing self-portraits that stand as a visual diary for the last nine years. Several pieces center on family and home, such as the formal portrait of himself and his lover Joe (in an eight-year relationship) with their two dogs, posed in front of a romantic mural of Venice. More casual are a photo of the two men relaxing in a bathtub, and two beefcake shots of the hunky Arsenault reclining nude. And although a picture of the artist lying on the top edge of his grandparents’ tombstone may at first register as flip, it’s really full of deep affection.
Lightheartedly provocative is a photo taken on Good Friday of the artist kneeling at the feet of a Catholic priest. One of the priest’s hands rests suggestively on Arsenault’s head, while the other points up to heaven; tellingly, Arsenault’s outstretched arm points down towards hell. Several photos deal in matters of love and sex, from the superficially erotic to the heartbreakingly sincere—“What I Got for a Buck” shows the artist’s hand stuffing a dollar bill into the sheer underpants of a male go-go dancer, while “Tony Broke up With Me” is a snapshot of Arsenault crying just after being dumped. By the end, the viewer feels warmly connected to a gay man in various facets of his personal life. ClampArt Gallery, 521-531 W. 25th St., 11 a.m.– 6 p.m., Tues.–Sat., until June 23, clampart.com, 646-230-0020.
Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D., leads LGBT art gallery tours through New York Gallery Tours, nygallerytours.com, 212-946-1548. The last LGBT gallery tour of the season starts 1 p.m, Saturday, June 16.
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