"(Not) Gay Art Now" Curator Jack Pierson Comments on His (Exceptional) Show

Matthew Barney Louise Fishman Erik Guzman in Brooklyn Barbara Gladstone Honors Son Stuart Regen at the New Museum Yokohama Triennale Outperforms Predecessor A Dizzying Convergence Hands Off Young at Art

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The exhibition, which includes work by artists who identify as gay—as well as those who don’t—has an impressive overall lineup of both established stars and up-and-comers to watch.

Among the big guns with work on view: Marsden Hartley (with a lovely flower still-life), a pink-and-blue Louise Fishman abstract painting, photography from Nan Goldin and Roni Horn, sculpture from Robert Indiana and work from Rauschenberg, Elizabeth Peyton, Gilbert & George and McDermott & McGough.

But the show also features work from relative unknowns and/or newcomers to the New York scene: Among many examples, the singer Antony is displaying his drawings in the city for the first time, and Michael Bilsborough, who received his MFA from the School of Visual Arts this summer (and who was featured in ArtInfo’s “Discover New Talent” section) has three of his ribald drawings on view.

Pierson told ArtInfo that achieving this successful, stimulating mix of art-world powers and emerging names was a primary goal of his from the beginning. “I wanted the show to be very inclusional and cross-generational. … It was also a way of giving back. My own success started with a summer group show when I got a mention from [New York Times’ reviewer] Roberta Smith.

[And, appropriately, Smith reviewed this show and singled out one of the younger artists, Paul Lee, for bringing “new life to the assemblage with grisaille soda cans.”]

When it was pointed out to Pierson that the overall tone of the work in the show is quite cheery—“gay” in the other sense of that word—he agreed, for the most part. “A lot of it is really upbeat, celebratory work, especially the Taboo! Taboo! installation [on view around the corner at Kasmin’s annex on W. 27th Street]; but there is some angry work, some sad stuff. It’s not completely lightweight, but yes, the tone is celebratory, celebratory of the fact that people, against all odds, bother to make things at all.”

And his own favorites in the show? “I really like the Antony drawings a lot, they’re quite a coup. There is a lot of inspiration embedded in them; I’m inspired by his ability to make an in-your-face, yet delicate transgendered statement, a very powerful, interesting statement without any glitter or drag.

“Speaking of camp and glitter,” Pierson continued, “I also love the Andrea Fraser installation [a giant pile of costumes from a Brazilian carnival]!”

Before the question could be posed to him, Pierson on his own brought up one of the more interesting aspects of the show, considering its title: There is very little overt homoerotic imagery, and what little there is, Pierson noted, was often created by women. Why? “Because girls can get away with it,” Pierson laughed.

And what is Matthew Barney doing in the show? “He’s cute and he puts things up his butt, which is good enough for me. Plus, I like that it will set all kinds of stupidity in motion. People will leave the show saying, ‘I didn’t know Matthew Barney is gay,’ and they’ll swear to it years later!”

What advantages might an artist have in assembling a show over a more traditional curator?

“I wasn’t interested, and I don’t think most artists would be, in making a checklist of artists to include six months in advance. I’m in awe of curators who can put three works next to each and create these incredible associations, but a lot of the best work in this show got included at the last minute. I think you gain a lot by spontaneity, by artists just trusting their subliminal instincts, by building a show’s aesthetic on the fly."

Would he curate again?

“I love curating, and I’d do it professionally if I could make a living at it.”

And how does spending time in a curatorial role impact his own art making? “It gets me more free, more charged up to try a little of everything,” said Pierson, who currently has a show of his work on view through July 29 at Paris’ Galerie Thaddeus Ropac.