Art & Queer Culture

In this history of queer art since 1880, Meyer and Lord take a broad view of homosexuality “as a site of sexual meaning and symbolic investment under continual negotiation.” They draw upon artists and thinkers such as Félix González-Torres, Oscar Wilde, Susan Sontag, Judith Butler, Andy Warhol, and Alice Austen, and others, whose works, the authors suggest, enter an ongoing conversation about the limits of sexual definition. Meyer and Lord’s “curatorially promiscuous” strategy includes two comprehensive essays and a wealth of texts by artists, theorists, and activists. Stanford University art historian Meyer (Outlaw Representation) contextualizes the works in terms of composition and historical trend, while Lord—a practicing artist, curator, and U.C.-Irvine professor—highlights the underlying activism and politicization of each work. There is a strong documentary impulse, with photos of protests, riots, and key political moments. The authors recognize that queer art “does not move toward ever more affirmative images of equality and dignity.” They also draw on theorist David Halperin’s statement that “queer is by definition whatever is at odds with the normal.... There is nothing in particular to which it necessarily refers.” By including no more than one work by any artist, Lord and Meyer account for a broad array of genderqueer, transgender, and more liminal identities. 180 color and 120 b&w illus. (May)