It’s kind of staggering to realize that my Gay & Lesbian gallery tour on Sat. Feb.18 at 1:00 PM in Chelsea, open to people of any orientation, will be the 100th completely different LGBT tour I’ve led since I founded New York Gallery Tours 10 years ago.  My LGBT tours have been happening like clockwork once a month for 10 months of the year, during the gallery season from September through June.  Every single one of the tours has included all-new exhibits of contemporary art – I never once repeated any shows.

I’m pulling out all the stops to make this Saturday’s all-new tour a most memorable experience, including TWO gay artist speakers — Scott Hunt and Frank Yamrus – when we visit their respective drawing and photography exhibits, plus the opening of lesbian art star Lucy Skaer’s latest sculpture show.  You’ll also see painting, video art, and an innovative sound art installation – 7 exhibits total!  And, as always, you’ll get a chance to socialize with culturally adventurous gay men and lesbians.

My very first gallery tour ever, in March 2002, was a gay men’s gallery tour in Chelsea.  At the time, I was a recently tenured, openly gay college professor who wasn’t even looking to start a business.  Indeed, I knew nothing about commerce, as I had been an academic my entire career until that time.  The tour was my way of sharing with the gay community my obsession and vast knowledge of the contemporary art scene.  It began as a gay men’s tour because I figured that gay guys would respond well to my taste in art, plus I knew how to get free publicity for the tour in one of the local gay glossy rags HX Magazine (that has since closed).  Sure enough, 22 guys attended that first tour from a simple 2-line listing, and my enterprise was born.

I didn’t know for sure anyone would show up for a second tour, let alone a 100th one.  I decided to make my second tour gay AND lesbian, and it wasn’t until my third month that I launched a general public tour (straight people like art, too, I correctly guessed), while maintaining a separate LGBT tour once a month.  It’s not as segregated as it sounds, as gay people were encouraged to attend my general public tours, and straights were welcome on the LGBT tours.  Some straight people to this day prefer the LGBT tours, as the art is sometimes a little racier than on the general public tours, plus the sensibility of a bunch of queers getting together to look at art can be hysterically fun.

Probably the single most controversial LGBT tour of all 100 such tours, and attended by 85 people 5 years ago, included an exhibit by gay Australian artist Bjarne Melgaarde that featured a video of two gay guys fellating a very receptive, very engorged male horse.  Even this group of art-savvy, porn-saturated gay New Yorkers was stunned by the spectacle.  No, I didn’t dare include that show on that month’s general public tour.

The most popular LGBT exhibit of the current season, this past November, featured Argentinian artist Marcos Zimmerman’s photo shoot of dozens of nude Latino men in their places of work.  Though the photos were frontally nude, and the men were HOT, it didn’t feel all that pornographic, as the artist was making a statement about social class in South America.

Lesbian artists have been outstanding speakers on the tours where I was fortunate enough to get them to address my groups.  These would include the extremely articulate Lisa Ross, who spoke on two different occasions about her photography shows of Chinese desert nomads, and the very down-to-earth Zoe Strauss, whose depictions of working class Philadelphians, including transgender individuals, have since made her famous in the international art scene.

I’m never going to retire from leading gallery tours.  What I do is way too fun and interesting.  Here’s to another 100 LGBT gallery tours.  Make that another 300.

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D.
Founder and Director
New York GalleryTours