Click art.
There may be a few nudes on QueerArts Resource, but this is one Web
site attempting to uncover forms of
gay and lesbian cyberculture that
don't involve cruising chat rooms or
downloading images of hot, naked
flesh. QAR bills itself as an
"educational forum for the display
and discussion of queer content in the
visual arts," and the Internet has
proved a perfect do-it-yourself
vehicle for the mission.
The site was launched in 1996 by
Barry Harrison, a 41-year-old
"escaped architect" who was struck
by the dearth of accessible
information on the gay presence in art
history. "When I was in school, I
didn't know there were many gay
artists," Harrison recalls. "It just
wasn't discussed. It's a form of
censorship. I started QAR to try to
combat these impulses, to show our
glorious cultural heritage."
Working with Webmaster Jim
Grady, a board of directors, and
numerous volunteers, Harrison has
put together an engaging site that
achieves his goals with seasonal
series--or "siteworks"--of virtual
exhibitions and forums that reveal just
how rich that heritage is. On-line
galleries and essays showcase
historical and contemporary art and
artists, such as openly gay Mexican
painter Nahum Zenil. Some shows
"rediscover" early-20th-century
artists such as photographer George
Platt Lynes or Hubert Stowitts, an
infamous Anna Pavlova ballet
protegee turned painter of visionary
and fleshy subjects in the 1930s.
Stowitts is honored with the site's
largest exhibition to date, part of the
just-unveiled winter 1998 gallery
series.
But QAR is just as concerned with
modern-day artists working in digital
media. The current offerings also
include a more up-to-the-minute
group show titled "Contempo
Lesbos," which includes an
interactive piece that polls visitors on
what they want from lesbian art. In
the fall 1997 exhibit, multimedia artist
Rudy Lemcke presented audio-enhanced
excerpts from his CD-ROM
on the site.
Each QAR exhibition is
accompanied by a contextualizing
essay, while the Forum section
presents more in-depth, revisionist
looks at important artists. In light of
Robert Rauschenberg's now-traveling
Guggenheim retrospective, the
career of the legendary
American artist gets the once-over
from gay art historian Jonathan
Katz in an extensive on-line essay, while
the art that emerged from gay activism's
heyday in the 1980s is the subject of
Robert Atkins's provocative and lavishly
illustrated essay "AIDS: Making Art &
Raising Hell."
Visitors can post comments and
observations in another area, and more
discussion areas are planned for the
future. "We're reinventing art history,"
Harrison says.
It's fitting, then, that QAR
concentrates on content rather than
flaunting the latest digital bells and
whistles. Some of the most advanced
programming here does behind-the-scenes
work like audience tracking, not serving
up RAM-hungry video clips. "We want
to be accessible to the largest number of
people, so we try to keep things simple,"
says Harrison, who is the first to admit
he's a high-tech neophyte. The site,
however, is rich in artwork and appealing
design features, such as the key icons
that lead visitors into the proceedings.
While the site operates on a shoestring
budget--its global headquarters is next to
the washer and drier in Harrison's modest
multipurpose room--and relies heavily on
in-kind donations, QAR has been
steadily growing in terms of content and
audience. The site has gone from
receiving 1,000 hits a month to 100,000,
with visitors from as far away as tiny
South Seas islands. Says Harrison: "It's
just amazing that we can do so much and
reach so many."
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| Title Annotation: | Special Cyber Report; Queer Arts Resource Web site |
|---|---|
| Author: | Helfand, Glen |
| Publication: | The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) |
| Article Type: | Brief Article |
| Date: | Mar 3, 1998 |
| Words: | 571 |
| Previous Article: | Oscar in America. |
| Next Article: | Little Plastic Castle. |
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