Many artists have responded with opposition to the controversial Proposition 8 statute, which banned same-sex marriage in California in 2008.
At the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the subject is addressed in an exhibition entitled “The Air We Breathe” with “quiet deliberation,” writes Liesl Bradner for the Los Angeles Times culture blog.
Curator Apsara DiQuinzio said of the exhibition, “So often events unfold around us in the world and artists don’t often get to actively participate.”
DiQuinzio commissioned 30 artists and eight poets — gay, lesbian, straight and transgender — to produce works that reflect on the subject in any matter or style they chose. Participating visual artists include Raymond Pettibon, Lily van der Stokker, Amy Sillman, Simon Fujiwara, Martha Colburn, Elliot Hundley and D-L Alvarez, among others. The writers who were included in the show include Eileen Myles, who contributed an essay, along with John Ashbery, Dodie Bellamy, Kevin Killian and Anne Waldman.
As for her decision to include international artists, DiQuinzio stated: “It was really important to me to have a balanced mix because I don’t necessarily believe this is a gay or straight issue, nor is it just an American issue.
The exhibition runs through February 20. For more information: www.sfmoma.org.
