Queer Artists are Celebrating Joy

For much of the 20th century, LGBTQ+ artists grappled with a lack of social freedoms and a profound sense of both personal and collective loss. Decades of erasure, hostility and the tragedy of the AIDs epidemic were subsequently reflected in much of the work of queer artists of the time. Today, however, thanks to the artists who came before them, the newest generation of LGBTQ+ artists have been empowered to find new ways to celebrate queer joy.

One of the most notable artists of American modernism whose history is now being rewritten in the context of his sexuality is Marsden Hartley. Unable to explicitly express his love for his partner, German lieutenant Karl von Freyburg, artist Marsden Hartley painted Berlin Abstraction in 1915. In accordance with social standards of the time period, Hartley’s touching dedication to his lover is a veiled and coded ode, alluding to von Freyburg’s love of chess and his Iron Cross medal for bravery in carefully incorporated abstractions of shape and color. It wasn’t until after Marsden Hartley’s death that Berlin Abstraction was recognized and appreciated for its queer narrative.

Marsden Hartley, Berlin Abstraction, 1915. Oil on Canvas

When gay life and culture were depicted explicitly, some artists chose to remain anonymous or don pseudonyms, like the prolific Tom of Finland, who’s revolutionary erotic queer illustrations would have ostracized him personally and socially. Though Finland is celebrated today for his unapologetic depictions of homoerotic hypermasculinity, the male form, and queer desire, during the height of his career his work challenged censorship laws worldwide and for a long time was only circulated through mail-order.

Tom of Finland, Untitled, 1977. Private collection. Courtesy of Galerie Judin, Berlin. © Tom of Finland Foundation.

Towards the latter half of the 20th century, as the AIDs epidemic took hold, queer artists began expressing in their work their pain and loss in the face of government apathy. Conceptual artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s most famous work, 1991’s Untitled (Perfect Lovers), addresses the loss of his partner during the AIDS crisis. Gonzales-Torres’s Untitled features two identical clocks touching and ticking side-by-side, with the understanding that they will eventually fall out of time.

Felix Gonzales-Torres, Untitled (Perfect Lovers) 1991. © 2023 The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation, Courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York.

Great strides in social and political acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community since the turn of the century have allowed for queer artists to reject anonymity, directly connecting their work to their queer identity in a celebration of personal freedom and community. Though queer people, expecially those further marginalized by racial, economic, and medical discrimination, still experience violence and systematic othering, advancements in HIV research, the development of PrEP, and the growing widespread acceptance and understanding of queer life and culture has allowed for artists to take radical ownership of their own experience.

RF. Alvarez, Before Dinner, 2023. Acrylic on raw linen.

This June, Alanna Miller presents Eros, a captivating portrait of artist RF. Alvarez and his radically peaceful life as a queer man in Texas. RF. Alvarez tells the story he wishes he were told growing up, one of joy, hope, and boundless love. His compositions capture the beauty of a fulfilled queer life through his compositions of dinners with friends, still lives featuring daily ephemera, and intimate moments between him and his partner. RF. Alvarez is able to celebrate the joy he has found with his partner in his work because of the trailblazing queer artists who came before him.