In the Curator’s
Statement:
I have decided
to focus on just two artists whose paintings are represented
in the Frank Moore Archive Project: Arnold Fern and Marc
Lida. Both were close friends whose life and art had a profound
impact on my life. We all met in 1972 when we were teenagers
at Buck's Rock, a visual and performing arts summer camp
in New Milford, Connecticut. Marc and I were bunkmates and
quickly became best friends for life. Arnold was a few years
older and was one of the counselors who taught painting.
Not yet twenty years old, he had the courage to dress in
the heat of the summer, not in the camper's obligatory shorts
and t-shirt, but in a kimono. Even more daringly, he insisted
on applying gold nail polish to his toes and to the nails
of any boy who was willing to risk aspersions to his masculinity.
In this way we unconsciously learned from Fern the power
of painting to transform the basest material and make it
wondrous...
b i o g r a p h y
Jonathan Weinberg, Ph.D. is a painter and art historian.
He is the author of several books including Ambition and
Love in Modern American Art and Male Desire: The
Homoerotic in American Art. You can see his paintings
at www.jonathanweinberg.com.
Every
month, Visual AIDS invites guest curators,
drawn from both the arts and AIDS communities, to select several
works from the Frank Moore Archive Project.
Founded in 1988 by arts professionals as a response to the
effects of AIDS on the arts community and as a way of organizing
artists, arts institutions, and arts audiences towards direct
action, Visual AIDS has evolved into an arts organization
with a two-pronged mission: 1) Through the Frank Moore Archive
Project, the largest slide library of work by artists living
with HIV and the estates of artists who have died of AIDS,
Visual AIDS historicizes the contributions of visual artists
with HIV while supporting their ability to continue making
art and furthering their professional careers, 2) In collaboration
with museums, galleries, artists, schools, and AIDS service
organizations, Visual AIDS produces exhibitions, publications,
and events utilizing visual art to spread the message “AIDS
IS NOT OVER.”
The Body
is now the most frequently visited HIV/AIDS-related site on
the Web, according to the Medical Library Association and
also the most frequently visited disease-specific site on
the Web, according to Hot 100. The Body contains a rich collection
of information on topics ranging from HIV prevention, state-of-the-art
treatment issues, humor and art. An invaluable resource, The
Body is used by clinicians, patients and the general public.
Part of The Body's mission is to enable artistic expression
to reach the Web, and to join art with other resources needed
to help the public comprehend the enormity and devastation
of the AIDS pandemic and to experience its human and spiritual
dimensions. |
