Ooh! Art! What else does it do?

So this is one of those things I meant to post ages ago. A month ago (Nov. 5), I went to The ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives for the opening of the WEAR ME OUT exhibit. It's a weird selction of stuff, but a super fun exhibit and I totally enjoyed attending its opening. I highly recommend that you go by and check it out.

The funny thing about this exhibit is that, while it doesn't say so anywhere, it's mostly a collection of clothing designed by lesbians and queer women and art made up from such clothing. There are several fashion photographs and and art inspired by queer/lesbian fashion. Everything item was different, and usually a bit of a suprise and a few items, like some random shoes, were almost inexplicable and yet cool.

The critique I could give of this exhibit would be that gay men and transfolk are underrepresented, especially considering their place in mainstream fashion. But I suppose that's the point; this is about the unrecognized and uncelebrated sides of queer fashion. Despite its eccentricity, the collection is fascinating and I had a wonderful time wandering through the exhibit. This exhibit runs through Jan. 29th, so enjoy it while you have the chance. You'll probably never see any collection remotely similar.

Following on the theme of cool art exhibits, there's an exhibit that closes on Saturday (Dec. 3) of the comic art of Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez at the Pasadena City College Art Gallery. Personally, I love the Love & Rockets graphic novels. They're beautiful and weird and intense and the Locas series is the sweetest craziest punk rock lesbian relationship/friendship I've seen in graphic novel form. (via Flog).

And one more gallery exhibit of art originally intended for some purpose other than gallery display... Porn! Yes, it's an exhibit of gay male erotic art entitled Erotic Pioneers Past and Present that features the work of Tom of Finland, Rick Castro, and Wilhelm von Gloeden among others. Runs through Feb. 3 at the Antebellum Gallery, which claims, "Specializing in fringe, fetish, and erotic art, Antebellum to feature artists and work that ranges from traditional to the outrageous. Antebellum will host original curated exhibits, new artists, film screenings, tea salons, readings, forums, and performances." This seems to be the gallery's opening event, and it doesn't seem to even have a website of its own yet; it's all from links off of www.rickcastro.com. I think I'm glad that LA has/will have a gallery that primarily displays erotic art. How crazy is that? Crazy, but kinda cool.