Ambition is an exhibition of photographs by the late Bob Mizer. Mizer was one of the most significant figures of twentieth century homoerotic art and was a celebrated pioneer in developing the visual language for post-war gay culture. This is the artist's first solo exhibition with the gallery and will include over 30 never-before-exhibited images from the Bob Mizer archive. The show runs from June 23 to August 18 at the M+B Photo exhibition space 1050 North Cahuenga Boulevard Los Angeles. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper.
Wolfgang Tillmans "Polymerase Chain Reaction" @ David Zwirner Gallery In New York
David Zwirner is pleased to present its first exhibition with Wolfgang Tillmans since he joined the gallery in 2014. On view will be over one hundred recent works installed by the artist, spanning a comprehensive selection of the major themes and processes in his oeuvre. The show also presents the United States debut of Instrument, a new, split-framed video. Bringing together pictures taken across the world of friends and strangers, as well as the natural and built environment, the present exhibition addresses one of the main questions explored in Tillmansโs recent practice: as photography becomes increasingly ubiquitous, and as ever higher resolution yields unprecedented views of our surroundings, how do pictures continue to shape our knowledge of the world? The artist proposes that there is still a space for perplexity, mystery, and emotional relevance. Click here to read our full review of this exhibition. Wolfgang Tillmans "Polymerase Chain Reaction" will be on view until October 24, 2015, at David Zwirner gallery, 525 and 533 West 19th Street in New York. photographs by Adam Lehrer
The Flamboyant Life & Forbidden Art of George Quaintance @ The Taschen Gallery in Los Angeles
George Quaintance lived and worked during an era when homosexuality was repressed, when his joyful paintings and physique photos could not depict a penis. In an era before Stonewall, the sexual revolution, gay rights and the AIDS crisis, Quaintance and his high-camp erotic art existed in a demi-monde of borderline legality. Currently, Taschen Gallery is presenting The Flamboyant Life & Forbidden Art of George Quaintance, the first public show of works by this culturally significant artist. Seventy years since the creation of his first physique painting, discover Quaintance's masculine fantasy world, populated by Greek gods, Latin lovers, lusty cowboys and chiseled ranch hands. Accompanying pieces from photographer and gay magazine pioneer Bob Mizer, as well as from the legendary Tom of Finland, show Quaintanceโs leading influence on the gay publishing and art scene. The exhibition will be on view until August 31, 2015 at Taschen Gallery, 8070 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles, CA
Artist Bjarne Melgaard on His Upcoming Show 'Daddies Like You Don't Grow On Palm Trees' @ Sammlung Friedrichshof
We here at Autre have a bit of fascination with New York based, Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard. His art is brutal, poignant, poetic and always adventurous. After his controversial show at the Munch Museum in Oslo - entitled 'Melgaard & Munch: The End Of It All Has Already Happened' - Melgaard is paying a strange homage to Viennese Actionist Otto Muehl. The show, entitled 'Daddies Like You Don't Grow On Palm Trees,' also explores his relationship with his lover, who is nearly 30 years his junior. Here is what Melgaard says about his upcoming exhibition, "This show is about the failure and synthesis of a sculpture I made some 15 years ago called Light Bulb Man.The genesis of the show was to take that sculpture and simply wash it out into new models of materialization, mixed together with several collaborations as random references to my fashion collection about disappointment and the pleasure attendant to that whole concept. All the fabrics in the exhibition have been designed by Babak Radboy of SHANZHAI BIENNIAL, specifically incorporating images of my boyfriend, David Oramas, me and of Light Bulb Man.The fabrics then were given to the designers to dress nine new sculptures that are remakes of the Light Bulb Man. The show also clearly references MDMT and LSD as a significant inspiration for the show and looks at the healing aspect of these substances and how they can open up consciousness and how psychedelics can be, if one is open to it, a tool to enter your inner core. The "Bad Daddy" aspect of the show takes into consideration and contextualizes the fact that I am 48 and my lover is 21 and with all the different mechanics inherent in that attraction. Itโs also a show based on seduction and intrigue along matters of age and time, themes that were fundamental to the original Light Bulb Man. The balance of the show will feature an improvised pop-up shop, soundtracks, and new paintings that will infiltrate the permanent collection of the Sammlung Friedrichshof." Daddies Like You Don't Grow On Palm Trees will be on view from May 16 to November 30, 2015 at Sammlung Friedrichshof, Zurndorf.
Robert Mapplethorpe: Night Work
Robert Mapplethorpe, White Gauze, 1984
The Scissor Sisters curate an exhibition of the late Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs at the Alison Jacques Gallery in London. (LINK)