GAYLETTER

Stroke: From Under the Mattress to the Museum Walls, now up at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art until May 25th, is absolutely everything (and also the perfect way to ignite your libido for spring, trust). I came of age in the late 60’s and early 70’s, yes Mossy is no spring chicken, and I had a pile of gay porno magazines secretly stashed under my bed. One day I came home from school, I was 14 or so, I entered my room and to my shock and horror saw the pile neatly placed on top of my desk. My mother, without missing a beat, called up from the kitchen, “oh Mary (our cleaning lady) found those magazines under your bed, I put them on your desk!” Not a word about the content, nor my burgeoning homosexuality, until 10 years later — another story for another day. This exhibition includes works by Tom of Finland, Jim French, Etienne, Antonio Lopez, Michael Kirwan and others. The curator of the show Robert W. Richards says the exhibition “spotlights the great artists who illustrated stories published in the gay magazines of their eras.” From Physique Pictorials to Blue Boy, Honcho, Mandate and Unzipped, Stroke includes them all. I am bringing everyone I know back to this show, it’s a gem — a stroke of pure genius.  —Gayletter