Exhibition provides ‘unflinching gaze’ at male figure from a queer perspective
Image: Liam Benson (Australia 1980). The Crusader 2015.
Inkjet print on cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 90 x 134cm. Photograph by Alex Wisser. Courtesy of the artist and Artereal Gallery.
Feel like a relaxing LGBTI weekend away from Sydney?
Then come to Bathurst and see The Unflinching Gaze, a photo media and male figure exhibition at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (BRAG).
This is the first major exhibition in Australia that surveys how the male figure has been depicted by artists in photo media over the last 140 years from a queer perspective.
The director of BRAG,Richard Perram OAM, has carefully selected over 200 photographs and film by 62 Australian and international artists for the exhibition.
Key artists in the exhibition include iconic American artists Robert Mapplethorpe and Andy Warhol, and contemporary Australian artists such as Max Dupain, William Yang, and Tracey Moffatt.
Works have been sourced from Australian and international collections, including a major loan of 60 works from the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York.
It includes historic and contemporary fine art photography and film, fashion photography, pop videos, and homoerotic art.
The exhibition brings an unflinching gaze to how concepts of humanity and the male figure are intertwined and challenged.
Works include harrowing images of the persecution, torture, and genocide of homosexuals from World War II to Iran today; avant-garde theatre director Robert Wilson’s amazing video portrait of Brad Pitt; Bruce Weber’s very sexy video for the Pet Shop Boys’ Being Boring; and an intriguing series of photos of ‘heterosexual’ cross dressing men taken during the 1960s in New York.
The Unflinching Gaze exhibition is a unique opportunity for audiences in Sydney and New South Wales to access a world class photo media exhibition through queer eyes.
The exhibition is exclusive to BRAG and will run through to Sunday 3 December. A series of public programs will also accompany the exhibition, including two forums featuring leading international and Australian artists, academics, and curators in discussions around contemporary art, LGBTI issues, and queer curating.
For more information on the exhibition or events visit: www.bathurstart.com.au.
