Archives March 2012

Kiki Gallery Records

Kiki gallery was established by Rick Jacobsen in 1993 to showcase contemporary art and performance. During its three years of operation, the Kiki hosted art exhibits, readings, and performances on subjects as far ranging as scatology, AIDS, and bongs. A few of the artists featured were Joan Jett Blakk, Nayland Blake, Jeannie M., and David E. Johnston.

The Kiki Gallery Records (GLC 29) were donated to the library by Wayne Smith in 1998. The collection contains publicity files, slides, photographs, drafts of performance pieces, exhibit catalogs, and some correspondence for the years 1993-1995. The images here are from the publicity files and catalogs. For a complete description, please see the San Francisco Public Library's website or the Online Archive of California.

All Hormel Center archives are handled through the San Francisco History Center, 6th floor, Main Library. For questions, please contact the San Francisco History Center reference desk at 415-557-4567.

Sister Spit in the library!

The Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center and Radar Productions are very excited to bring a rambunctious multimedia performance extravaganza to the San Francisco Public Library with the Sister Spit 2012 KICKOFF on Sunday, April 1st, 2-5pm, in the Koret Auditorium.

Sister Spit began in 1994, founded by Michelle Tea and Sini Anderson, giving rowdy and rrrriotous emerging writers and performance artists a ticket to some of the best beer-stained stages around the country. Past Spitters have included such talented people as Eileen Myles, Kirk Read, Lynnee Breedlove, and Beth Lisick to name just a few. They’ve been everywhere, met everyone, released several albums, lost their voices several times over, and now they’re coming to the library for this free and not-quiet event! We are so lucky!

The 2012 Sister Spit KICKOFF line-up includes, of course, Radar Productions visionary Michelle Tea, the big-time novelist Dorothy Allison, hilarious performance artist Erin Markey, Bay Area musician and zinester Brontez Purnell, comic artist and writer Cassie J. Sneider, and slam poet and Mr Transman 2010 Kit Yan. And, because we’re special, the KICKOFF includes special guests Ali Liebegott, Hilary Goldberg and a sneak preview of Valencia: the Movie!

We know we’ll see you there!

Queering Art

Ever wondered about all those gay artists and how they've influenced the major art movements throughout history? About representations of same-sex desire in art? Or the ongoing threat of censorship of images of the queer body? Christopher Reed’s well-received new book Art and Homosexuality: A History of Ideas is a great place to begin exploring the relationship between art and queer sexualities. Focusing mainly on the link between modernism and homosexuality, but going back to the Greeks and forward to queer activism in contemporary art, the book is “a fascinating and sophisticated account of the ways two conspicuous identities have fundamentally informed one another.” Full of compelling images and with accessible writing, it has received numerous favorable reviews (here's one) because of its broad overview and unique approach to the subject.

Another recent book that explores the relationship between queer artists and modernism is Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, by Jonathan D. Katz and David C. Ward. The book documents an exhibition by the same name held at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution that debuted in 2010. With over 150 images, the book provides insight into the representation of same-sex desire in American portraiture and how the “marginality” of queer artists has shaped the ways in which they represented that desire, dramatically influencing modern art. Interestingly, a video installation piece by David Wojnarowicz was removed from the Hide/Seek exhibit at the Smithsonian after complaints by two Republican Congressmen and the Catholic League. It appears that the struggle to freely represent queer bodies and queer sexualities in images continues.