Queer Encyclopedia of Visual Arts:
Our Tribe Revealed

by Benji Holmann for the San Francisco Spectrum

I remember coming out and searching for any material that validated what I knew to my core – that I didn’t fit in and I was not into the opposite sex and didn’t get the whole 2.5 kids and white picket fence. When in college I was able to more independently explore any notion of being a gay man, a rite of passage was the adult bookstore but not the best place to get a sense of history unless your looking for a very short and orgasmic one. The only reference materials I was able to find at the University of Wisconsin at the time was about AIDS and the Harvey Milk / mayor Moscone assassinations.

Gone are the days of obscurity with the implosion of the Internet to be able to access a computer at your local copy shop or in private at home and read up on your tribe(s) to learn your history and fill in the blanks that our puritanically inclined society has created. What a difference if we were all taught healthy sexuality, as we needed to learn it. Many still aren’t able to access “the net” but those who are have laid the foundation for relevant and complex interrelatedness to be explored in a self-study mode. So added to the life-affirming reference books that will change lives and share the treasures of our artistic legacy is the Queer Encyclopedia from Cleis Press – www.CleisPress.com - a 373-page reference book worthy of concentrated study, surveying or even dipping and surfing. Over fifty contributors assembled hundreds of entries on artists, subjects and movements and lays the groundwork of interconnectedness between them. This is an excellent companion to the websites’ online reference and will enrich the experience of any artist for the thoughtful and engaging collection of a people’s work.

The Queer Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts edited by Claude J. Summers is a wet-dream browsing guide to the “…enormous contribution of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer artists to painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and architecture.” From African Art to Andy Warhol the A-Z compendium offers a definitive survey of artists who identified as queer, portrayed us in the artwork or even are simply appreciated by us. Subjects and artist biographies are sorted out by the editors of www.GLBTQ.com and should be the first in many explorations into the queer artists and those who love them (and their work). One of the beauties of the queer aesthetic is exploring beyond the safety net of what is considered appropriate and safe. Our very lives are still illegal throughout the world. However, the arts communities have long appreciated the nuances of self-discovery and coded lives to allow a consistent weave of queer expression to survive from the ancient Greek vase painting depicting the use of dildos to today’s post-modern re-constructionism.

The encyclopedia includes an index of names from Riza-I Abbas to Jorge Zontal (with more being added online continually at www.GLBTQ.com). Each artist article has brief bibliography and cross references to other subjects and artists. Obviously not every artist has an entry so here’s hoping for future volumes in advance! Many artists are referenced in articles even if they didn’t get an entry all their own. Pity the committee that had to decide the cut.

Subjects familiar – like Rainbow Flags and more obscure – like the Phrygian fertility god Priapus share page after page of concise insights into motivations, historical context and biographical tidbits to enliven the exploration. The Topical Index is quite useful if you were looking for some entries for a particular region, country or subject, like Bisexuality, Latin American Art, Hermaphrodites or Photography. I felt let down only in the irony that a visual arts encyclopedia would seem to have a lot of … pictures! All in all a great primer and a terrific gift, I look forward to using this volume for years to come.

GGBA, the first LGBT
chamber of commerce.

Positive Resource Center, providing employment services and benefits counseling to the SF Bay Area HIV community.

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