“THINGS: A queer legacy of graphic art and play”

“THINGS” is an exhibition of objects made by artists best known for their work in journalism and media. Drafted during moments of leisure and distributed largely through social means, the paintings, drawings and printed matter collected in the exhibition THINGS harness the quiet radicality of their activist origins. From the hyper-sexualized drawings and comics of filmmaker Curt McDowell, to the ‘60s revisionist wall reliefs and high gloss paintings of video artist Tom Rubnitz, through music journalist and AIDS columnist Robert Fordʼs underground black culture ‘zine, THING — for “she knows who she is” — the tactics on display carry through to a younger generation, whose object-making bolsters or elaborates the artists’ primary, time-based practices. Through expressive self-portraiture, utopian world making, and scene-charting ‘zine cultures, the materials assembled in THINGS evince the intensely vital and political potential of craft to reflect the world as it appears or is perceived at immensely personal moments of artistic reflection.

Opening Reception: Sunday, July 17, 7-9pm.