Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender and Identity marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexual acts in England and Wales and brings together a diverse range of artists who have used their work to explore sexuality and gender identity since 1967. The exhibition reveals the findings of over two years of research by the Gallery into LGBT history, visual culture, its collection and the Arts Council Collection, revealing hidden queer histories and institutional blind spots that will be addressed through the exhibition’s programme of events and performances.
The exhibition includes artists David Hockney, Steve McQueen, LINDER, James Richards and Sarah Lucas among others, as well as new acquisitions to Walker’s collection, generously funded by the Art Fund New Collecting Award scheme.
I believe this was important to visit as it
gave me a retrospective of how the creative world has been changed and
developed after the partial decimalisation of homosexuality. It enabled me to
view the changes that was acceptable within the world of visual communication
post legalisation in comparison to the ‘Queer British Art’ exhibition which
explored queer visual evidence beforehand.
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| Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool 1966 |
The pieces were from both queer and non-queer artists, but all explored ideas within the LGBTQ+ spectrum.
Some of the pieces were from the same year
as legalisation and achieved some awards which may represent the changing times
and perception within the public eye. Such as ‘Peter Getting Out of Nick’s Pool’
by David Hockney. The painting was completed in 1966, and is an open expression
for same sex desire. The painting is of a figure, who is Hockney’s former
partner, Peter Schlesigner. The painting was based off a Polaroid of him
leaning on a car, further explaining the paintings purposeful portrayal of same
sex desire. The painting won the sixth John Moores Painting Prize at the Walker
Art Gallery in 1967 (the year of legalisation). Little changed once the act was
originally passed in the day-to-day life of gay men, although this win does
represent and initial change in attitudes of what the creative world deemed as
acceptable.
As the exhibition progresses the pieces
become more exploratory and provocative of the exploration of sexuality pushing
the meanings and boundaries, evident in earlier pieces, to the questionable confines
of what sexuality can be deemed as in modern culture. As the time moves on from
piece to piece the exploration of also identity and gender becomes evident as
well as just sexuality. Tribute to drag icons, photography exploring the
genitals assigned to the genders and the replacement of them with inanimate objects
are visualisations of this.
Overall I believe the exhibition has helped
me gain an understanding of the developments within the perception of queer
culture, which will help influence my content in my book, by knowing that you don’t
particularly need to be pushing boundaries to be able to portray queer culture successfully;
but it can be done in a way that capture a natural progression. By doing so it
will make the book more understandable to a wider audience and create an area
of a more natural understanding.
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