January 28, 2000

Gay aesthetic versus queer aesthetic

An interview with New York art critic Dan Cameron

by John Chaich

Dan Cameron is easily considered one of the world's leading authorities on contemporary art. A New-York art critic since 1979, Cameron has published over 250 articles and catalogues and has served as a contributing editor to Artforum, Arts Magazine, Art & Auction and Flashart.

Cameron, senior curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York since 1995, has mounted some of the country's most significant exhibitions of gay artists, including the recent "Fever: The Art of David Wojnarowicz," who died of AIDS in 1992.

On Wojnarowicz, Cameron writes: "It is Wojnarowicz' refusal to be silent that imbues the work with such power. His heavily documented life and the art he produced have become examples of one man's attempt to awaken social consciousness and transform the world's disdain into a powerful indictment against tolerance and apathy."

The same can be said of the lesbian and gay community's motivation to raise awareness-and at times, raise hell—against the interpersonal and social politics of a homophobic culture.

And the same can be said of Dan Cameron's vision. In his commitment to gay artists, Cameron has solidly placed sexual orientation among the variety of ideologies represented in the way we see art, and reflected in the way we live.

John Chaich: Where do identity politics or lack thereof-fit in global trends in contemporary art? Specifically, where does sexuality or gay sexuality fit in trends in contemporary art?

Dan Cameron: Along with feminism and racial identity, gay and lesbian sexuality has proved to be one of the richest lodes of artistic inspiration in our time. In practice today, quite a number of prominent nonWestern artists are gay and place their sexuality in the foreground of their work.

Just as interestingly, a lot of non-gay artists identify with gay subject matter as a form of cultural resistance and pay homage to that in their work. What comes out may sometimes seem to be a hodgepodge, but it's a rich and stimulating one.

J.C.: Some of the most "controversial" art of the past two decades, such as the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, have had strong "homosexual content.” In your career, how have you seen the art world and the audience respond to sexuality, particularly queer sexuality, in art?

D.C.: Despite what many of us would like to believe, being gay is not a protected status in this country, and its very existence is still seen as threatening by a number of people.

Partly for this reason, work like Mapplethorpe's was singled out for censorship, creating an unnecessary rift between the art world and the gay community. However, since with time most people have seen through this as cynical manipulation by rightwing extremists, I think those wounds have largely healed.

Of course, if left to its own devices, the art world today usually doesn't bat an eye, no matter how explicit the subject matter.

J.C.: What inspired you to curate “Fever: the Art of David Wojnarowicz," when you did? What was your relationship to Wojnarowicz' art?

D.C.: I had been a fan of Wojnarowicz' work since the early 1980s, and I was inspired to organize the exhibition "Fever" after reading a newspaper article about the re-kindling of interest in his art.

Another important factor was knowing I worked for the only museum in the U.S. that would dare to undertake something like this. The exhibition took three years to put together, and was offered to forty other museums in the U.S. and Europe-no one even nibbled.

J.C.: Like the stereotype that AIDS is still a gay disease, one might argue that many audiences became familiar with gay artists through their AIDS-related art. Do you think that AIDS related art opened the door for understanding gay sexuality in art?

D.C.: I question whether AIDS-based art opened the doors, as you said. I organized the first large gay exhibition in this country at the New Museum in 1982, and even in this preAIDS moment, you could sense a turning point in the handling of both sensibility and

sex.

What does seem to have changed things, sadly, was the vast number of artists who died from AIDS. I mean, by the time ACT UP and Gran Fury came into being--and they were very effective, no question-the burning issue was activism, not gay identity per se.

J.C.: Is there a gay aesthetic? Versus a queer aesthetic?

D.C.: I guess if I had to distinguish, I'd say that gay identity in art is a fairly timeless notion, involving camp, unabashed beauty, irony and desire. Queer identity is of more recent vintage, and has to do with using identity to challenge the heterosexual status quo.

J.C.: Today, there is discussion of end-of-irony in culture and art. Do queer audiences particularly attach to irony? Conversely, how has queer art maintained or challenged a beauty aesthetic in art?

D.C.: For me, what the gay community thinks of as irony is a far cry from the stale cynicism that passes for irony in current popular culture. I think it's important to make a distinction between sincerity, which is important, and the strategic use of irony, which can be one of life's necessities.

Also, your point about the so-called return of beauty is pertinent. Frankly, I'm pretty annoyed by the whole re-anointing of Norman Rockwell as a supposedly important artist. If you're talking about beauty, I'll take the work of Pierre et Gilles (who will have a retrospective at the New Museum in September) any day!

J.C.: How important is it to you to promote queer artists?

D.C.: I don't think I necessarily promote queer artists per se, but I am constantly on the lookout for significant work that's been overlooked. And because the museum mainstream in the U.S. is still basically allergic to cultural

diversity, this means that a disproportionate amount of the interesting and overlooked work is made by gays and lesbians.

This is what made it possible for me to organize survey exhibitions of Martin Wong, Marcel Odenbach and David Wojnarowiczall gay artists within a single year. That's a record that will probably not be broken for some time to come.

J.C.: Who are your favorite artists, let alone queer artists, right now?

D.C.: Let's see, we could start with Paul Cadmus, touch on Gilbert and George, and end up with Scott Burton, and we still haven't arrived at the current era, which seems to be increasingly marked by the amazing contribution of Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

As far as more obscure figures are concerned, I was always a big fan of Arch Connelly, a New York City sculptor who died of AIDS, as well as Leonilson, a Brazilian sculptor who also died of AIDS. I hope that it will be possible in coming years to show people just how important their contributions were.

J.C. With the exhibitions you have curated nationally and internationally, you seem committed to diversity. How important is it to you to place equally sexual identity among other identities in what is considered multiculturalism?

D.C.: I think it's essential for gay people to immerse themselves in every form of cultural diversity. Understanding difference is the key to seeing others as individuals, and not just as members of groups. For this reason, I think it's important as a curator to explore every facet of how identity is constructed through art, and to contextualize gay identity within that mix.

Dan Cameron will speak on “Global Trends in Contemporary Art" at the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art on Sunday, February 6 at 12 noon. Admission is $10; $5 for Center members and students.

John Chaich is the public programs manager at the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, and editor of the 'zine sway.

"Along with feminism and racial identity, gay and lesbian sexuality has proved to be one of the richest lodes of artistic

inspiration in our time."

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE