Queer Art (Art Essentials) - Paperback

by Mollie E. Barnes (Author), Gemma Rolls-Bentley (Author)

Queer Art is a definitive compendium of LGBTQ+ artwork, highlighting the expansion and endurance of queer aesthetics within modern and contemporary art. Intergenerational and globally represented, its thoughtfully curated selection of practitioners paints a rich picture of queer visual culture, underscoring the complexity of lived experience, and cutting through basic understandings of the subject that locate "queerness" in overt homoeroticism and proven identity.

Queer art curators Mollie E. Barnes and Gemma Rolls--Bentley begin by exploring how resilience has shaped artistic expression, establishing the historical backdrop against which queer art has evolved. From selfhood to love, history to futurism, thematic chapters unpack the key concerns of queer art as they relate to the work of artists such as Keith Haring, Bhupen Khakhar, Lotte Laserstein, Hélio Oiticica, Catherine Opie, and Xiyadie. By exploring the notion of "queer art" through the lens of both historical figures and contemporary, working artists, the book adopts a dual focus, traversing the past and present to reflect on covert histories while imagining radical futures in which art not only reflects but redefines social norms.

Front Jacket

Queer narratives have long been overlooked--or actively erased--by art history. In recent years this has begun to shift, with a more intentional effort to apply a queer lens to the visual arts. Queer Art expands this conversation, recognizing queerness not as a genre but as a gesture--defined by resistance to convention.

Spanning generations and geographies, Queer Art paints a rich picture of LGBTQIA+ visual culture, interrogating reductive views that equate queerness with homoeroticism and proven identity. Thematic chapters explore key concerns--selfhood, resilience, liberation, and the future--as expressed in the work of artists such as Keith Haring, H?lio Oiticica, Catherine Opie, Xiyadie, and others. The result is a vital and expansive vision of queer artistry and aesthetics.