Anthony Friedkin, Gay, A Photographic Essay 1969-1972
June 20-August 2, 2009
Opening reception is Saturday, June 20, 7-10 p.m.
drkrm.gallery is pleased to announce this in commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riot and Gay Pride month.
This retrospective exhibition of photographs about the Gay community revisits work done by celebrated Los Angeles based photographer Anthony Friedkin. This powerful Travel Tea Sets
DomiTeaand important set of vintage photographs historically documents what was then the emerging identity of the homosexual community, and the beginnings of the Gay Liberation Movement. First displayed in a Los Angeles exhibit in 1973 and later again in 1994 it’s been over fifteen years since these unique and beautifully printed vintage photographs have been on view.
Hustlers, Selma Avenue, Hollywood 1971
The images in the exhibit depict a wide-ranging composite of gay life: young hustlers, drag queens, transsexuals, San Francisco entertainers; a Gay Liberation parade in Hollywood; two lesbian women very much in love; effeminate boys growing up in an environment of machismo and the religious subculture typical of East Los Angeles. “They were defining their sense of freedom and individuality,” says Friedkin, who choose at the time to portray Gay people who refused to conform to society’s values. “I wanted to depict their struggles, humiliations, and their triumphs.” Also included are portraits of Gay activists Morris Knight and Don Kilhefner, and Gay cleric Troy Perry standing among the burned-down ruins of his downtown church after a suspected arson fire. A reviewer from San Francisco’s Artweek said of Friedkin’s original 1973 exhibit: “The Gay Essay is comparable in magnitude to Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans’…the exhibit in its entirety is amazingly strong. And for the most part the photographs are singularly beautiful in execution.”
An internationally recognized fine art photographer, Mr. Friedkin’s images are in the permanent collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. He is represented in numerous private collections as well. His work has been exhibited worldwide and has been published in Rolling Stone, Zoom, Time, Newsweek, and many others.
drkrm.gallery, in cooperation with the Steven Cohen Gallery, is proud to present this historic and groundbreaking body of work.
- drkrm is located at 2121 San Fernando Road, Suite 3, Los Angeles, CA 90065
- Telephone: (323) 223-6867
- Website: http://www.drkrm.com
- Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 1-4 p.m..
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