Wednesday, June 17, 2009

PHD Gallery: Saturday, 27 June 2009

Please join us Saturday, June 27, 2009, 7 - 10 p.m. (after Pridefest) for the opening receptions of

TOM BIANCHI: MEMORIES OF FIRE ISLAND
Limited Edition Archival Prints from SX-70 Polaroids

DAVID LANCASTER: PLEASE GOD, MAKE ME NOT QUEER
Oil on studded aluminum paintings and sculpture

TOM BIANCHI: MEMORIES OF FIRE ISLAND

Before gay marriage, before "don't ask-don't tell," before AIDS, and even before Stonewall... there was Fire Island. Part Garden of Eden, part Sodom and Gomorah, this tiny little barrier to Long Island, just south of the Hamptons, was as much a state of mind as it was a destination. Synonymous with freedom to gays around the word, Fire Island was the ultimate mecca where gays and lesbians who often lived their lives in secret, were free to be who they were, among their own, living and playing without judgment or scorn. Photographer Tom Bianchi captured that era on film. Using a Polaroid SX-70, Tom Bianchi shot more than 6,000 images of his summers in the Pines.

Over 24 images from Memories of Fire Island and a selection of Bianchi's classic black and white nudes will be on view at PHD Gallery from June 27 through August 15, 2009, with an opening reception Saturday, June 27 at 7:00 pm. The artist will attend and will sign copies of his books.

DAVID LANCASTER: "Please God, Make Me Not Queer"

"Give me chastity... but not yet." St. Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo and one of the major figures of early Christianity, uttered this famous prayer in his struggle to gain mastery over his earthly desires. In the spirit of brazen honesty with which Augustine addressed his deity, David Lancaster proposes a collection of modern prayers, painted in oil on aluminum, designed to explore and question the nature of communication with the divine. Sad, bold, frank and funny, the prayers challenge our collective notions of supplication and gratitude--what we should ask of an omnipotent God and for what we should give thanks--and the very idea that prayer is a catalyst for divine action.

Ten of Lancaster's studded aluminum paintings and sculpture will be on view in PHD's Portfolio Gallery. The text of each prayer, rendered without vowels or word breaks (in the manner of early biblical manuscripts), surrounds the nude supplicant, painted in oil on aluminum, the whole nailed to a plywood substrate with brass escutcheon pins, reminiscent of Christian icon paintings and stained glass windows.

PHD Gallery
2300 Cherokee Street
St. Louis, MO 63118
(314) 664-6644
http://www.phdstl.com

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