Shocking Double Lives of Iconic Gay Artists
Learn about the scandalous double lives of iconic gay artists – from Caravaggio to Andy Warhol.
Cost: $12. Please note that this fee helps keep our small business going during the crisis so we can get up and running right away when it is safe to bring people together again in person.
Tickets: gayartistdoublelives.eventbrite.com
While many gay artists had double lives, this talk will focus on iconic artists who created mainstream work, which they showed openly, as well as provocative gay work, which they hid or destroyed. An hour-long virtual talk by Ignacio Darnaude, creator of the upcoming documentary series HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT - BREAKING THE GAY CODE IN ART, who will reveal stunning examples of how these artists’ complex sexuality had a crucial impact on their life and work. We guarantee that you'll never see them with the same eyes again.
Some of the highlights of this Zoom tour include:
CARAVAGGIO revolutionized religious painting by portraying young male models chosen by his patron, a Cardinal, who showed them to his intimate friends, creating the first queer network in history.
LORD LEIGHTON: One of the most important Victorian artists, a “bachelor” who created blatantly homoerotic images coded in classical, religious and mythological themes.
JOHN SINGER SARGENT painted countless sensual male nudes in secret while he became the most important portrait artist of his generation.
FRIDA KAHLO and TAMARA DE LEMPICKA were openly bisexual, capturing some of their lovers in their paintings.
DUNCAN GRANT England’s most important painter in the 30’s got forgotten for, supposedly, not having evolved in his style and imagery. His explicit, inter-racial, erotic works went public at the end of his life.
GEORGE PLATT LYNES Celebrated for his fashion photographs at Vogue magazine. He hid his revolutionary homoerotic photographs, which resurfaced decades later, becoming hugely influential for modern day photographers.
ANDY WARHOL started his career with openly homoerotic work, which he discarded and disavowed when he started acquiring fame.
Plus so much more!
ABOUT OUR SPEAKER
Ignacio Darnaude is a writer- film producer based in Los Angeles. After a 25 career in Hollywood's studio system as a producer and marketing executive, he left his positions as Head of International Marketing for Disney and Sony to pursue a passion project, bringing to life the documentary series "HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT - BREAKING THE GAY CODE IN ART".
Finding out that many Museum boards are very conservative and reject discussions and exhibitions around gender identity, he launched into a decade-long research process which uncovered an extraordinary story, which has been hidden until now to both the heterosexual and gay communities. His findings will shatter the belief that still exists among the general population and the majority of the art world that same-sex desire is just a footnote in art history and that an artist's homosexuality is irrelevant to his/her work.
His Zoom talk, will reveal some highlights from his docuseries. It will explain the creative ways and codes used by gay artists to express their same-sex desire during repressive times, and how, in fighting oppression, they revolutionized all visual arts, survived scandals, won landmark battles, spearheaded art movements and transformed mainstream culture every step of the way.