[artncultr]

Contact: Marc Arrañaga
Marc Arrañaga Contemporary Art
(213) 300-4687

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Marc Arrañaga Contemporary Art and Bruno Gmünder Verlag
Present
QUEER ARTISTS AND THEIR BOOKS
Exhibition, Book Signing, Reception, and Roundtable Discussion
Featuring the Works of Tom Bianchi, Henning von Berg, Rick Castro,
Glen Hanson, and Kevin King aka Beau
March 18-19-20, 2005
4823-29 S. Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019

Los Angeles, CA, January 6, 2005 – Marc Arrañaga Contemporary Art and Bruno Gmünder Verlag present an exhibition featuring five of Los Angeles’ most notorious queer artists with a book sale and signing of their recent publications of provocative and successful works.

Marc Arrañaga, provocateur of queer art in Los Angeles, is at it again. From his perspective on ‘edge culture’ comes an extraordinary event that is long over due in contemporary culture. Since Stonewall the queer community has looked to marginalized publications for gay and lesbian imagery. But now it is time to burst forth onto a public forum with the artists of our time and of our generation. Marc Arrañaga is staging a turning point event to showcase five artists representing West Coast contemporary queer aesthetics: Tom Bianchi, Henning von Berg, Rick Castro, Glen Hanson, and Kevin King aka BEAU. Over the past 20 years these creative radicals lovingly crafted and painstakingly photographed, drew, painted and recorded their queer visions. Now, as mid-career milestones, their best works are documented in beautiful and well-crafted books for the entire world to enjoy.

Tom Bianchi loves men and men love Tom Bianchi. Bianchi’s book, On the Couch Vol. I, is an incredible success. A favorite of our generation, Tom loves to focus not only on the male figure, but male love and companionship. He has recently released a documentary on the making of, On The Couch Vol. II, which has been a success at film festivals. Volumes One and Two of On The Couch are his 10th and 11th books and they create, together with their Internet and film expressions, a comprehensive record of the sexual energy of the gay community. Tom documents a broad range of real men who fearlessly and shamelessly demonstrate a comprehensive array of sexual activity. His body of erotic work is the largest ever published in the art world. Bianchi has pioneered the use of the internet by prepublishing all of his new books and films at TomBianchi.com in story format significantly longer than the books or films themselves, which are actually artifacts of the site.

Henning von Berg’s eye-catching images have been published worldwide. His current book, Universal, in collaboration with German photographer/graphic designer Kingdome 19, features well-endowed models from all continents. Kingdome 19 reworks his and Henning’s negatives in his darkroom and includes script and mythological symbols. The result of this complex and meticulous process is 160 one-of-a-kind, handcrafted 12” x 16” fine art prints in sepia tone, so called photo-graphics. The images are reminiscent of early Daguerreotypes with a special intimacy related to the figure in the photo. Each photo is unique and no two are alike. Henning shares his time between Los Angeles and Berlin.

Rick Castro considers himself a folk artist as his work is made for and created with a kindred group. Rick's photographs and films explore the wide world of fetish and the fringes of sex culture. His work has been published in artist’s editions and exhibited in galleries and institutions worldwide. His new book published by Fluxion Editions titled, 13 Years of Bondage, is truly a precious and stylish product, besides publishing 3000 copies, the publisher created 200 special edition copies, each with their own case and a 7 x 10 image of one of the prints from the book.

Glen Hanson’s world of visual fantasy extends over a variety of mediums. His illustrations have appeared around the world on book and cd covers, on the runways of Milan, and in magazines like L’UOMO VOGUE, MAXIM and VARIETY. He has designed and art directed animated shows for MTV and DISNEY and co-creates the popular syndicated gay comic strip CHELSEA BOYS now in development as a series for the new gay network LOGO. To give life to the visions of hot fantasy men that “strutted in his head”, Glen came up with his “G-MEN”. The first ever compilation of these colorful, sexy and humorous images has been published by BRUNO GMUNDER in a hardcover book called G-MAN. Glen currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

Kevin King, who recently came ‘out’ as the artist known to many only as, BEAU, has published a pulp-fiction style pin-up book titled, BEAUMEN, a compilation of his most beautiful paintings and drawings. Kevin’s prolific work has been featured as companions to erotic narratives in magazines such as, MEN, FRESHMEN and numerous book covers for Alyson Books. In addition to creating the character BEAU, King has exhibited his fine art work, which has been shown in several galleries throughout California, and has worked in the Film industry in Hollywood. In the foreword to Kevin’s new book, filmmaker, artist and author Clive Barker writes, “Once in a while an artist comes along who want to give us more than a hard-on and a quick orgasm. The erotic subject becomes a framework which will allow him to make art.” King is currently developing his photographic skills to produce another book based on his narrative ideas. King currently divides his time between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Marc Arrañaga is an independent curator and art historian. Formerly, as Director and Curator of the LA Gay and Lesbian Center’s Advocate Gallery, he staged many groundbreaking exhibitions featuring national and international queer artists. In addition, he produced a lecture series for queer art historians writing about gay and lesbian history. He is currently working on a Jean Cocteau exhibition that will travel to Japan in 2005/6. Visit http://marc-jasper.com/exhibits.htm to learn more about these event.

Bruno Gmünder Verlag, based in Berlin, Germany, is the largest publisher of gay related imagery in the world. They have generously agreed to sponsor this event.

Listing
QUEER ARTISTS AND THEIR BOOKS – Exhibition, Book Signing and Roundtable Discussion. Featuring the works of Henning von Berg, Tom Bianchi, Rick Castro, Glen Hanson, and Kevin King aka BEAU. http://marc-jasper.com/exhibits.htm
Friday, March 18, 2005: 7pm - 10pm; special preview event to benefit the Tom of Finland Foundation ($5 requested donation). Books for sale and artists available for signing
Saturday, March 19, 2005: Noon - 6pm; open for exhibition and preorders on books,
(free event) 7pm - 10pm; artists reception and book signing
Sunday, March 20, 2005: 11am - 2pm; exhibition open, Books for sale and artist available for book signing
(free event) 2pm - 4pm; roundtable discussion
4pm - 6pm; open to the public

For information contact Marc Arrañaga: (213) 300-4687
Event Location: DejaDesign/Warehouse at 4823-29 West Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019 (2 blks east of La Brea); free street parking