GAYLETTER

Bob Mizer is legendary, he was a male photographer who liked to take photos of other men, way before that was a cool thing to do. In fact Bob was a real trail-blazer. But that’s not why his work has endured. Bob has continued to be celebrated because his work is so damn good. It’s unusual, erotic, conceptual and there’s so much of it. Bob not only took photos he also shot film. Curator Andrew Lampert brings us an above-ground screening of “certifiably underground movies featuring a selection of Mizer’s eye and organ-popping films from his extensive and unclassifiable back catalog. Projected on celluloid rather than digital, we will experience these works in the wondrous sprocket-driven format for which they were initially produced and distributed.” Following the screenings, Lampert will engage in a conversation with filmmaker Peggy Ahwesh on the “topic of Mizer’s sizable output and iconic cinematic approach.” If you don’t know anything about Mizer we suggest you first read our interview with the curators of the latest exhibition featuring Mizer’s work Devotion: Excavating Bob Mizer. After that turn up to this event and get some deeper insights into the work of one of the 20th centuries most influential photographers.  —tom

Abi and I were running around Chelsea last Saturday with gin and tonic to go cups we got from a zine launch at Printed Matter, I think it was around 5:43PM with moments to go before the galleries closed. We were looking for the Wade Guyton show at the Petzel Gallery when we happened upon this extraordinary exhibition Re-View: Onnasch Collection at Hauser and Wirth on the same street. “The exhibition focuses on the period between 1950 and 1970, decades when New York’s cultural influence was unrivaled and some of the most important artistic  movements of the 20th century were born.” Reinhard Onnasch, a dealer  and collector had a pioneering and distinctive “eye” that is clearly on view here. Curated by Paul Schimmel these works from Onnasch’s collection cover everything from Abstract Expressionism to Minimalism, Pop Art and Conceptual Art. 10 distinct rooms include works by Barnett Newman, Larry Rivers, Cy Twombly, Claes Oldenberg, Jim Dine, Rauschenberg, Christo, Edward Kienholz and a powerfully sublime Richard Serra titled “Do It.” If you’ve never visited this gallery now is the time to go, maybe if you’re lucky the bar inside the gallery will be open — if you have a deja-vu with drink in hand not to worry the gallery is in the former Roxy nightlcub space where you may have been in the past but under very different circumstances.  —Gayletter

There is a jaw dropping show of photography by Village Voice photographer and picture editor Fred W. McDarrah: Save the Village now up at the Stephen Kasher Gallery thru March 8th. I spent hours in the space pouring over images of Warhol, Dylan, Kerouac, Sontag, Kusama, Hendrix, Tennessee Williams, Muhammad Ali, Robert Kennedy, Woody Allen, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and countless other brilliant and startlingly honest pictures of village life. “This exhibition of over 130 rare and iconic vintage prints spanning the years 1958 to 1979 seeks to demonstrate that Fred W. McDarrah was the most curious, knowledgeable and indefatigable photographer of the New York downtown scene in the second half of the 20th century.” Now that’s a mouthful but the show stands as a powerful testament to back that up. Save the Village is a walk through time when the village was still brimming with creativity, political activism and bohemian celebrity, Thanks Fred for this remarkable record, peace and love!  —Gayletter

When I saw this body of work for the first time, I got the impression that it was created by a gay man — René Smith’s presentation of male images has the same homoerotic qualities as many gay artists working today dealing with the male physique. The difference is, as René states, “the project is about men’s bodies seen through a woman’s eyes — the woman’s gaze — the man’s body — the body as landscape with hills and valleys to roam.” The exhibition's opening reception is on February 7th, and contains collages made from vintage magazines from the 60’s and 70’s, as well as paintings and drawings based on her own photographs. Her graphic collages are beautifully rendered using images of hot men that take over the landscape in the best possible way. This show is a confirmation that 70’s pornography is still super hot.  —Abi

I couldn’t resist, I just had to tell you about this extraordinary exhibition by two of my all-time favorite photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank now up at the Danziger Gallery. The Heart and the Eye includes both of the photographer’s iconic photojournalistic works from their extensive travels that culminated in two groundbreaking books-Bresson’s 'The Decisive Moment’ in 1952 and Frank’s ‘The Americans’ in 1958. It’s not like these two men got along exactly. In the opening of Bresson’s book he “opined that a picture is a joint operation of the brain, the eye, and the heart” and just a year later Frank countered, quoting Saint Exupery “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.” Oh OK, either way you see it these works taken at the pinnacle of the men’s artistic prowess explore the human condition in an eloquent and unnerving fashion. This is a must see for all photography lovers, two grandpas of the medium together at last, in the show at least.  —Gayletter

“I tried to use beauty to draw people in instead of repel them” says artist (and now environmental activist) David Lachapelle in reference to the new non-fashion imagery in his latest exhibition Land Scape, now on view at Paul Kasmin gallery. There are actually two bodies of work, one of gas stations and one of oil refineries — exquisitely rendered candy colored chromogenic prints that reek of the Lachapelle aesthetic though there’s not a stiletto nor a celebrity in sight. For this body of work the artist masterfully staged scenes using hand-crafted scale models placed in natural settings; the gas stations in the rain forest of Maui and the refineries in the desert and coast lines of California. “Constructed of cardboard and a vast array of recycled materials, from egg cartons to tea canisters, hair curlers and other by-products of our petroleum-based, disposability-obsessed culture” the models vibrate with an ultra modern energy that is both disquieting and beautiful, rendering the images with a surreal authenticity.  —Gayletter

I stumbled onto a picture on Instagram of an older white lady in front of an image of a naked Jean-Michel Basquiat. I was intrigued by the contrast of the visual and as I suspected impressed by the size of Basquiat’s penis, so I decided to look into the exhibition. The show on view at the stunning The Suzanne Geiss Company is by photographer, and Basquiat’s girlfriend of two years, Paige Powell. It’s her first presentation of photos from her comprehensive archive. When I got to the gallery later that day I saw on display “rare candid” large scale black and white 35mm nude portraits of Basquiat. The images show him as I’ve never seen him before “relaxed on a futon, drawing while watching cartoons” and other raw images of him full frontal where you can really appreciate his peen. I know I keep talking about his dick, but trust me it was very memorable.  —Abi