‘That’s one of the things that “queer” can refer to: the open mesh of possibilities, gaps, overlaps, dissonances and resonances, lapses and excesses of meaning…’ – Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

Queer Art(ists) Now
Presented by And What? Queer Arts Festival and Pilot Press

This eclectic new exhibition located in the large, spacious vault of the old Hackney archives in Haggerston features over 50 artists, performers and makers and offers an insight into the breadth and politics of queer art practice today.

Together with a series of events, the exhibition offers a focused view of the practices that have formed and continue to shape contemporary queer art, including works by Linder, Prem Sahib, Rottingdean Bazaar, Holly Johnson, Princess Julia, Keith Vaughan, Jeffrey Hinton, John Booth, Urara Tsuchiya, David Hoyle, Paul Chisholm and graduates of the Goldsmiths MFA.

Over 40 artists out of over 200 applications were selected by our panel, Andrew Ellerby (And What? Director), Olivia Laing (Writer: The Lonely City, Frieze magazine), Evan Ifekoya (Artist) and Richard Dodwell (Pilot Press) to be included in a salon-style exhibition that will take place at Archive Gallery, part of the Mill Co. Project space in Haggerston, London, between Thursday 12th – Sunday 15th October.

Private View: Thursday 12 October, 6 - 9 PM
inc. drinks, canapés and performances

List of events:

Friday 13 October
Queer Life Drawing class, 7 - 9 pm

Saturday 14 October
Perfomance dinner (details to be announced)
with Urara Tsuchiya and Richard Dodwell

The exhibition is run as a not-for-profit with prices of the work determined by the artist, with any profit from sales being returned directly to them.

In addition to the above, Queer Art(ists) Now will be raising money for survivors and local residents of Grenfell Tower, in support of future activism and a planned one-year on memorial project organised by local activist groups. Anyone involved in the exhibition has the option to donate their work to the cause and many of our invited artists have already very kindly agreed to do so.

This exhibition is for them, for us, and our collective struggle for a world without arms manufacturers, poverty, destruction and those who would wish to deny us our humanity and freedom.

im pleased to say " Viral Load " sold at Christies to a private buyer raising a lot of money for the Terrence Higgins Trust. There has been a lot of publicity about the piece which is all good. However as always with the Media some quotes have been taken out of context. Which saddens me. No one is to blame for a virus and no one should face discrimination, blame or stigma. We are all accountable for our own actions and the consequences that become us. "|Viral load" was originally created to visualise the virus and the pain caused by contracting it. It was NEVER intended to " Get back at " or hurt anyone. " a voodoo doll can also be used for good in your own life or in the lives of others: for love, healing, protection, success" Kind Regards The Artist Mr Paul David Chisholm

You are quite the subversive lad! Quite the provocateur. I was most impressed with your piece Viral Load. As a sculptor myself, I relate best to 3-D form. This is a powerful piece – odd, though, that the excellent accompanying commentary doesn’t mention black as the colour of death. This penis is in part undoubtedly a powerful a statement precisely because it uses black. The HIV crisis was called the “Plague” in my day with its obvious reference to the Black Death/Plague. Is this curator so afraid of not being politically correct he dare not reference black’s symbolic association lest it impute black men’s penises, too? Possibly. Certainly, he views the relevance of the red colour chosen for the pins on the glans as worthy of comment and that they signify ‘Danger” [i.e. HIV virus in the ejaculate] Neither does he reference that this penis is erect. The fact that only in its erect state can the penis be an HIV vector is an important feature . The tumescence is relevant. – ready for action/loaded, so to speak. Flaccid, a penis is not a threat for infection. Bruce Flowers Curator Art Critic 2017

Links To Press

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/606939/World-most-painful-dildo-sex-toy-charity-auction-HIV-positive

http://metro.co.uk/2017/04/20/this-pin-studded-dildo-could-be-the-worlds-most-painful-sex-toy-6585744/