BECAUSE WE ARE

June 19, 2010 – September 19, 2010

Eric Avery (Texas)
James Morrison (New York)
Patricia Cronin (New York)
Zanele Muholi (South Africa)
Daniel Goldstein (California)
Conrad Ventur (New York)
Brian Kenny (New York)
Arthur Robinson Williams (Pennsylvania)
Slava Mogutin (New York)
David Wojnarowicz (New York)

Featuring the poetry of Staceyann Chin (New York)
This exhibition presents the work of 10 distinguished artists who are dealing with issues regarding Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual civil rights. Fundamental concerns include gay marriage, the AIDS crisis, religious and legislative persecution, hate crimes and gay sexuality.

Gay marriage is a controversial issue and a subject that Brooklyn based artist Patricia Cronin personally confronts through her well-known classically sculpted funerary monument Memorial To A Marriage. She also presents her intimate series of erotic watercolors. The AIDS crisis devastated the gay community beginning in the 1980s. Outspoken artists affected by this disease explored its effects in their artwork. One of the most influential figures of this time was New York based artists David Wojnarowicz. His “Untitled” (One Day this Kid…) reveals an intimate narrative that shows how devastating this disease is. More recently, Daniel Goldstein’s Medicine Man approaches AIDS on conceptual level. The suspended human- shaped sculpture consists of steel wire threaded with nearly 300 donated empty HIV medication bottles and 139 syringes. The sculpture is beautiful in spite of its foundation in hopelessness and despair. Arthur Robinson Williams presents intimate portraits of transgendered individuals and couples undergoing physical and emotional transformation in his photographic series My Right Self. Zanele Muholi takes us on a photographic journey through post-apartheid South Africa focusing on the subjective experiences of black lesbians in two of her series Only Half The Picture and Being.

These 10 artists express their most intimate feelings and strive for recognition through their own fine art. This exhibition consists of a range of media including sculpture, photography, video, and mixed media. Coinciding with Houston’s Annual Pride Festival, this exhibition shares aesthetic, philosophical, and political views and experiences from a legitimate segment of society.