We are excited to announce that three artists will speak at our Sat. Nov. 13 LGBT gallery tour when we visit their latest shows: gay painter Keith Mayerson, lesbian photographer Lori Nix, and gay artist Brice Brown.  This will be the most live artists to make an appearance on any tour we have ever led, gay or straight, in the 8 years we have been offering them.  At an LGBT tour, where we gather to celebrate queer culture, it is particularly thrilling to have queer artists address us.

Forty-four year-old Keith Mayerson has been exhibiting in galleries since 1993, and his 2008 exhibit was written up in the New Yorker.  Over the years, his paintings and drawings have been an eclectic mix of portraits, cityscapes, and fantasies, some of them infused with politics and gay identity.  His current show, entitled “My Modern Life,” seems to be his most personal exhibit yet.  Of particular interest to me are oil-on-linen portraits of Keith’s husband Andrew, including depictions of their wedding in California, and also scenes of the two of them in Paris, where the couple vacationed together.  Perhaps his single most fascinating work is his GQ-like self-portrait at age 17.  Lanky, preppy, and a bit effete, he stands dramatically on craggy rocks overlooking the sea.  UPDATE: Keith Mayerson’s show was just reviewed favorably in the Nov. 12 New York Times!  You’d better meet him in person on this Saturday’s tour before he becomes too important to speak to us “little people” any more.

Lesbian artist Lori Nix is known for her meticulously detailed dioramas that she builds in her Brooklyn studio, and her artwork can be found in the permanent collections of a number of museums, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas.  While technically a photographer, her startlingly proficient sculptural skills come to the fore in her creations.  The haunting beauty of destruction and decay seem to be Lori’s dominant theme, particularly in her current work of post-apocalyptic scenes, where she imagines an urban world that has been stripped of human habitation.  Her largest piece in this show, titled “Map Room,” took 6 months to complete, and its depiction of a library interior is so realistic, you would never guess it was a model.  Personable and articulate, Lori spoke to our LGBT group 3 years ago when she last showed in Chelsea, and she was voted the most favored artist on that tour.  UPDATE: Lori will be bringing along her wife Kathleen, who is instrumental in helping Lori create her art!

Artist Brice Brown’s exhibit is titled “Queening,” a not-so-subtle indication of the queer themes inherent in his work.  Brice’s current show of sculpture, painting and photography explores the fetishized object in relation to decorative arts.  His enormous aluminum queen’s crown seems to be the centerpiece of the exhibit.  It is cracked and riddled with holes, opening this piece to multiple interpretations.  Most intriguing to me is Brice’s abstracted depiction of beard hair, a central fetish in the so-called Bear community.  One of the more bizarre elements of his show are the bee “butts” that are meant to evoke uncircumcised penises.  This exhibit is both amusing and conceptually challenging, and I am eager to hear Brice’s explanations.

These are just 3 of 7 exhibits we will visit that day.  You can only imagine how gratifying it is to bring my fellow lesbian & gay “brethren,” along with supportive straight friends, on these state-of-the-art queer cultural outings.

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