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May 7, 2003 CITY ART CELEBRATES GAY PRIDE WITH QUEER ART EXHIBIT IN JUNE SAN FRANCISCO - In celebration of Gay Pride Month, CITY ART Cooperative Gallery will be exhibiting "Queer Art" throughout June. An opening reception for the month-long Queer Art exhibit will be held Friday, June 6, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the 828 Valencia Street gallery. "The member artists of CITY ART Cooperative have been, from the very start, overwhelmingly queer, and I think this sensibility infuses all that we do - from the art to the high camp dress at some of the openings," said CITY ART Core Member Katie Gilmartin. "We've never had an exhibit with a queer theme before because - well, mostly because this is San Francisco, where it's as safe to assume someone's queer as it is to assume they're not. "While our annual erotic show in February is always tilted toward queer erotics, we thought it was time that we presented ourselves explicitly as we are - a cooperatively owned and operated gallery whose leadership is largely queer," Gilmartin said. "At the same time, many of us understand and experience sexual and gender identities in a more complicated way than we used to -- we recognize identity categories as fluid and porous, and find that there can be as much pleasure in playing with these identities as there is in rigidly abiding by them. "In that spirit, our Queer Art show includes both art by queer-identified artists, whether or not it has a queer theme, and queer-themed art, whether or not the artist who made it identifies as queer," she said. "These guidelines have several benefits: they don't compel anyone to identify as one thing or another, and they allow for maximum speculation. What could be better? "As for what constitutes "queer-themed art," we leave that to the fertile imagination of our artists, bearing in mind that "Queer" means many things to many people." Owned and managed by local artists, CITY ART is a cooperative gallery of artists who strive to promote creative awareness and expression in the community. Most of the art sold at the CITY ART Gallery fall within the $100 to $500 price range. Local member artists to participate in the Queer Art Exhibit include:
The show runs through June 29. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 9 p.m. CITY ART is located at 828 Valencia Street between 19th and 20th streets and easily accessible by BART and MUNI. Public parking is available two blocks away on 21st Street between Valencia and Mission streets. CITY ART can be reached at 415-970-9900 or through its website at www.cityartgallery.org. |