The first photographer and non-British recipient of the Turner prize, Wolfgang Tillmans is known for his culture-shaping photography and prominent activism. Stuart Mentiply, Portrait of Wolfgang Tillmans. Her web-series Revisiting Genesis explores digital afterlives, and is available to be viewed online or at Wellcome Collection, in a joint exhibition with photographer Jo Spence. In an interview in 2016, Ashery explains that her art deals with biopolitics and queer feminism, the academic influence of which can be felt throughout her expansive repertoire of works. She worked in collaboration with several groups including the UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group for her 2014 performance The World is Flooding at Tate Modern. Her previous work sees her playing the role of a male figure, sometimes as her alter ego Marcus Fisher, an orthodox Jewish man, sometimes as political leaders, as in her 2011 performance Hairoism. London-based artist Oreet Ashery works with performance, film, installation, and a cohort of other media to produce critically acclaimed works that deal with gender relations, cultural identity, and more recently of death and the digital afterlife. Oreet Ashery, Hairoism, 2011, 6-hour Durational performance and video. Haring's works are currently on view at the exhibitions below: He did so by establishing the Keith Haring Foundation, which provided funding to research initiatives that were largely underfunded by an uncaring government, as well as outreach to targeted youth for the awareness of HIV/AIDS. In his later years, upon being diagnosed with HIV, Haring dedicated his work to combating the infection. Proliferating ideas of sexual identity and gaining positive awareness for the struggles of being gay, Haring has been prominently noted as an influential figure in queer communities. While the shop was criticised by the art world elites, Haring defended it in saying that this was yet another way in which his work attempts to break down the barriers between high art and low art.
His work wears down the white cube model of the contemporary gallery, with murals and sculptures that take up public spaces as well as his Pop Shop which sold his designs in the form of everyday commodity.
Keith Haring Foundation Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi, 1986, Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc., New York.Īnother queer-identifying artist whose life was lost at the hand of HIV/AIDS, Keith Haring was an artist whose pop aesthetic and playful designs led him to international acclaim. You can see the impact Mapplethorpe had on other artists at the second part of this exhibition here: After his death, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation raised millions in funds for medical research of the infection. His death due to complications of HIV/AIDS is one of countless casualties that arguably resulted from the United States government's then disappointing and unsympathetic response to the epidemic. He undeniably pushed the boundaries in art, and consequently in visual culture as the shift from a heteronormative male gaze gave way to a more inclusive take on eroticism. Regardless of the problematic nature of certain aspects of his work, Mapplethorpe was a seminal figure in the gay community and the arts from the 1970’s until his death in 1989. Constantly at the forefront of controversy, his work has sparked public debate about censorship and art funding, as well as the objectification of black men in the gay community for his solo exhibition Black Males and subsequent book The Black Book. A celebrated photographer known for his often divisive subject matter, his work ranged from portraits of socialites, statuesque figures of nudes, and scenes from underground BDSM gay scenes in New York.
Perhaps one of the first names that comes to mind when mentioning artists and gay identity is Robert Mapplethorpe. Guggenheim Museum, New York Gift, The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, 1993 Robert Mapplethorpe, Self Portrait, 1980, gelatin silver print.