Art and
Homosexuality. From von Gloeden to Pierre et Gilles
Palazzo della Ragione, Milan
Palazzina Reale di Santa Maria Novella, Florence
curated by Eugenio
Viola, promoted by Vittorio Sgarbi
Milan 9th of July (it
was opened, censored and immediately closed)
Florence, 26th of
October 2007 / 6 th of January 2008
This exhibition, the most extensive of its kind ever staged in Italy,
presents 220 artworks and over 150 artists in an investigation of the
connections between art and homosexuality in the period stretching from the
birth of photography through to the present day, ideally from Von Gloeden to
Pierre et Gilles.
Originally organized for another city, Milan, and another venue, Palazzo
della Ragione, the exhibition was censored immediately after the opening on 9th
of July. It never opened its gates to the public and the catalogue was
withdrawn. After a great scandal and a lot of political arguments the
exhibition reopens on 26th of October in Florence, at Palazzina Reale of Santa
Maria Novella. It is one of the most debated exhibitions of the past years.
The visual representation of subjects closely associated with
homoeroticism is present throughout the history of humanity, although the
cultural values it expresses and the underlying meanings are naturally the
reflection of the specific historical and socio-cultural contexts. Scenes with
homoerotic contents appear on the vases of ancient Greece and in the Persian
bas-reliefs, at the dawn of eastern art, in the Italian Renaissance and in the
Baroque period. A subtle fil rouge that by way of short circuits and fundamental
passages reaches the present day, developing independently and long before the
advent of the modern concept of gender’s diversity.
However, what should we identify with the term “homoerotic art”? Works
created by artists of whose homosexuality we are certain and in which
frequently, but not necessarily, we find something that references an
homoerotic taste? Or should we consider the work of artists who are not
officially homosexual but whose creations reveal an extraordinary eroticism
that encourages such an interpretation? Departing from the homosexuality of an
artist for the interpretation of his/her work triggers a series of particularly
thorny questions. Knowledge of the (homo)sexual orientation of the artist
generally alerts us to the possible presence of a metaphorical representation
of homosexuality. What kind of relationship is established between the
biography of the artist and the interpretation of his/her work?
The criteria for the selection of the works exhibited does not consider
this relationship, but is instead based on the specific characteristics of the
individual works, identifying, beyond the conventional identities of gender, a
thematic strand within a common mode of feeling, of expressing states of being,
attitudes and emotions, without any claim to define the canons of a “homosexual
specific” within the art. On the basis of this approach, a number of works
exhibit openly homoerotic contents, while in others this is expressed obliquely
through specific codes, symbols, allusions, allegories and metaphors. An
itinerary that from the Arcadian photographs of Baron von Gloeden explores the
territories of homoerotic photography, from Herb Ritts and Bruce Weber to
Mapplethorpe, from Jack Pierson to Bruce Labruce, with a glance at the camp aesthetic
of James Bidgood revived in more recent years by David Lachapelle. Artists who
are working in a historical period in which it is possible to freely treat gay,
lesbian or transgender themes, presenting anxieties and questions that are
preponderant and frequently crucial for much of the art of the end of the last
century and the opening of the new millennium.
An exemplary itinerary of images through the evolution of perception and
the consequent representation of existential diversity, from Carol Rama to
David Hockney and Andy Warhol, by way of the roaming identities of Ugo Rondine,
Yasumasa Moritura and EVA & ADELE, highlighting the work of the latest
generation of artists who use homoerotic love as an expedient for questioning
superstructures of race, desire, gender and sexual identity and braking down
the conventional distinctions between art, eroticism and pornography.
ARTISTS:
Aubrey Beardsley, Alberto Abate, Paolo Arao, Agostino Arrivabene, Assume
Vivid Astrofocus, Jacopo Benassi, Betty Bee, James Bidgood, Antje Blumenstein,
Gary Lee Boas, Giovanbattista Brambilla, Bruce of Los Angeles, Daniele Buetti,
Jeff Burton, Sylvano Bussotti, Maurizio Cannavacciuolo, Davide Cantoni, Paolo
Cassarà, Jota Castro, Maurizio Cattelan, Larry Clark, ConiglioViola, Erwin
David, Tamara de Lempicka, Filippo de Pisis, Gabriel de la Mora, Mc Dermott,
Sebastiano Deva, Giulio Durini, EVA&ADELE, Leonor Fini, Giorgia Fiorio,
Fischerspooner, Samuel Fosso, Franko B., Jim French, Anna Fusco, Francesca
Galliani, Ryan Mc Ginley, Luis Gispert and Jeffrey Reed, Nicola Gobbetto, Nan
Goldin, Steven Gontarski, Ettore Greco, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Keith
Haring, David Hilliard, David Hockney, Harry Holland, Francesco Impellizzeri,
Anna Keen, John Kirby, Micha Klein, Steven Klein, Bruce Labruce, David
LaChapelle, Mark Lackey, Annika Larsson, Alex Lee, Christian Leperino, Ma
Liuming, Philip Lorca di Corcia, Robert Mapplethorpe, Mataro Da Vergato, Bas
Meerman, Claus Mehrkens, Moio&Sivelli, Pierre Molinier, Claudio Monnini,
Yasumasa Moritura, Maria Mulas, Barbara Nahmad, Helmut Newton, Erwin Olaf,
Luigi Ontani, Gonzalo Orquin, Paco y Manolo, Camilla Paternò e Matteo Basilè,
Paul P., Philip Pearlstein, Dino Pedriali, Kembra Phaler and Bruce Labruce,
Tony Patrioli, Walter Picardi, Pierre et Gilles, Jack Pierson, Pasquale
Piscitelli, Carol Rama, Terry Richardson, Herb Ritts, Terry Rodgers, Ugo
Rondinone, Rosy Rox, Thomas Ruff, Sam Taylor-Wood, Dean Sameshima, Matteo
Sanna, Livio Scarpella, Paolo Schmidlin, Collier Schorr, Luigi Serafini, Marcello
Severi, Marco Silombria, Natalie Silva, Alix Smith, Paul M Smith., Alex
Tennigkeit, Mario Testino, Giovanni Testori, Tom of Finland, Ikè Udè, Wilhelm
von Gloeden, Wilhelm von Pluschow, Andy Warhol, Bruce Weber, Paul West, Joel
Peter Witkin, Young Elizabeth
Press Office Artematica: tel. 0422.410886 ufficiostampa@artematica.tv
in collaboration
with:
CLP Relazioni
Pubbliche
Tel. 02.433403; Fax 02.4813841
Press Office Electa
Ilaria Maggi
tel. 02.21563250; imaggi@mondadori.it
Press release and image on www.clponline.it
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