What an extraordinary season this has been for my Gay & Lesbian gallery tours – in the past two months alone my groups have attended major solo exhibits by some of the queer giants of the art world, including Robert Mapplethorpe, Keith Haring, and Ellsworth Kelly.  My final LGBT tour of the season, on Sat. June 11, will be equally terrific.  Highlights of this tour will include: (1) BRAND NEW artwork by legendary 81 year-old gay artist Jasper Johns, arguably the most famous and important LGBT artist alive, and (2) lesbian artist Jen P. Harris, who will speak to us when we visit her exhibit of paintings of androgynous couples kissing.  These are just 2 of 7 exhibits we’ll see that day.  Because the gallery season is about to end, if you miss the June 11 tour you’ll have to wait 3 months for the next LGBT tour.

Jasper Johns is best known for his painting Flag (1954–55), and also for works depicting maps, targets, letters and numbers.  At the time, positing that such familiar iconography could be considered fine art was deemed revolutionary, and so Johns’ fabled career was launched.  Johns was also involved in a long-term romantic relationship with another distinguished gay artist, Robert Rauschenberg, who died just three years ago.  The Jasper Johns exhibit we’ll be visiting on my June 11 tour will be comprised of completely new sculptures that expand on his earlier themes, but on a larger scale.  Sadly, because of his advancing age, this will likely be one of John’s final shows of new work ever.

I was delighted to receive word that lesbian artist Jen P. Harris will speak to us in a Q & A session when we visit her show of large-scale oil paintings and small- to medium-sized black and white ink works on paper. The oil paintings depict life-size androgynous couples floating in or emerging from richly colored landscapes. The monochromatic works are tightly cropped portraits of figures kissing or embracing that suggest film stills, connecting a proverbial image of romantic love with homoerotic desire.  It isn’t all that often that lesbian artists showing in the Chelsea galleries have blatantly same-sex content in their artwork, so Harris’ show will be the perfect way to cap the season.

I’ve been particularly pleased as the season has progressed by the considerable increase in numbers of lesbian participants on my tours, even as the numbers of gay male attendees have maintained their traditionally very high level.  And, of course, non-LGBT participants are always welcome to attend – indeed, straight people they tell me they have more fun on my LGBT tours than on my general public tours.

Believe me, when the gallery season ends in a couple of weeks, I’ll be taking my forced sabbatical with the greatest reluctance.  Then, by the time September rolls around, I will be rarin’ to go for another exceptional season.  Catch my extraordinary June 11 LGBT tour while you still have the chance!

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D.
Founder and Director
New York Gallery Tours