Customer Reviews

In a Different Light: Visual Culture, Sexual Identity, Queer Practice

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was pleasantly delighted by the variety of the art, essays and surprisingly fiction.

The exhibition is over 100 pages of the book in sections titled -
VOID
SELF
DRAG
OTHER
COUPLE
FAMILY
ORGY
WORLD
UTOPIA
I would have enjoyed a larger format edition to view the art more clearly and would have benefited by having an index that could have guided me to favorite artists.

I would have enjoyed seeing more of the artist Tee A. Corinne to be featured and would have liked if one of the 26 essays were from her.

From the publisher
This anthology documents a landmark exhibition at University Art Museum, Berkeley. Curatorial essays, artwork, fiction, personal essays, and rants explore gay, lesbian, and queer experience.
"This illuminating work is essential..."
"...a revelatory ground-breaking show. By its end, all art is seen in a different light, and, perhaps most profoundly, so is difference itself."

From opening the introduction by one of the curators Lawrence Rinder - In a Different Light explores the resonance of gay and lesbian experience in twentieth-century American art. This exhibition has been developed through poetics rather than polemics: not a definitive survey of gay and lesbian aesthetic sensibilities, it is, rather, a gathering of images and objects which, "with a likeness burst in the memory," sheds new light on our collective history.
The initial inspiration for the exhibition was the dynamism and innovation evident in the work of the contemporary generation of young gay and lesbian artists. Not only has there been, in these communities, an outpouring of work in the visual arts, but, especially in San Francisco, there is a palpable sense of community: visual artists, playwrights, poets, performance artists, film-makers, and video artists present their work together in a variety of non-profit venues and small commercial galleries, work that is often itself inter-disciplinary and collaborative. These artists live in a generally hostile social climate, amid the constant threat of "gay-bashings," proscriptive legislative initiatives, and surrounded by the tragedy of AIDS. Remarkably, they not only persist in making art, but do so in a spirit of humor, generosity, and flamboyance. Much of this work, too, has less to do with representing gay and lesbian lives than with conveying gay and lesbian views of the world: it is outward- looking, gregarious, and socially concerned.

And concluding the introduction - In a Different Light opens the door to a fascinating new area for exploration. The resonance of gay and lesbian experience in twentieth-century American art has been profound in ways we are just beginning to appreciate. At the same time, it seems that the work of many of the younger generation of artists is telling us that our definitions of sexual identity are changing in unforeseen ways. Now may be the right time to reflect on our collective history while we still have one foot planted in "gay," "lesbian," and "straight" experience and the other stepping into a new world whose definitions--and pleasures--are, as yet, unknown.

I was pleasantly delighted by the variety of the art, essays and surprisingly fiction.

The exhibition is over 100 pages of the book in sections titled -
VOID
SELF
DRAG
OTHER
COUPLE
FAMILY
ORGY
WORLD
UTOPIA
I would have enjoyed a larger format edition to view the art more clearly and would have benefited by having an index that could have guided me to favorite artists.

I would have enjoyed seeing more of the artist Tee A. Corinne to be featured and would have liked if one of the 26 essays were from her.

From the publisher
This anthology documents a landmark exhibition at University Art Museum, Berkeley. Curatorial essays, artwork, fiction, personal essays, and rants explore gay, lesbian, and queer experience.
"This illuminating work is essential..."
"...a revelatory ground-breaking show. By its end, all art is seen in a different light, and, perhaps most profoundly, so is difference itself."

From opening the introduction by one of the curators Lawrence Rinder - In a Different Light explores the resonance of gay and lesbian experience in twentieth-century American art. This exhibition has been developed through poetics rather than polemics: not a definitive survey of gay and lesbian aesthetic sensibilities, it is, rather, a gathering of images and objects which, "with a likeness burst in the memory," sheds new light on our collective history.
The initial inspiration for the exhibition was the dynamism and innovation evident in the work of the contemporary generation of young gay and lesbian artists. Not only has there been, in these communities, an outpouring of work in the visual arts, but, especially in San Francisco, there is a palpable sense of community: visual artists, playwrights, poets, performance artists, film-makers, and video artists present their work together in a variety of non-profit venues and small commercial galleries, work that is often itself inter-disciplinary and collaborative. These artists live in a generally hostile social climate, amid the constant threat of "gay-bashings," proscriptive legislative initiatives, and surrounded by the tragedy of AIDS. Remarkably, they not only persist in making art, but do so in a spirit of humor, generosity, and flamboyance. Much of this work, too, has less to do with representing gay and lesbian lives than with conveying gay and lesbian views of the world: it is outward- looking, gregarious, and socially concerned.

And concluding the introduction - In a Different Light opens the door to a fascinating new area for exploration. The resonance of gay and lesbian experience in twentieth-century American art has been profound in ways we are just beginning to appreciate. At the same time, it seems that the work of many of the younger generation of artists is telling us that our definitions of sexual identity are changing in unforeseen ways. Now may be the right time to reflect on our collective history while we still have one foot planted in "gay," "lesbian," and "straight" experience and the other stepping into a new world whose definitions--and pleasures--are, as yet, unknown.