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Art
Exhibit/ 2005 San Francisco |
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Art
Opening and Festival Opening Party:
Benefit
for the St. James Infirmary
Sunday, May
1st 7-10 PM
$10- $20, sliding scale
Epicenter Gallery, 398 11th Street (near Harrison) San Francisco
415-751-1659 for publication and media
www.sexworkerfest.com
Click here for more information about Cabaret Party
Click on links below for info about individual artists
Featured artists and performers Sister Kitty Catalyst- Mistress of Ceremonies; Kitten On the Keys; Sadie Lune; Ginger Virago; Stacey Swimme; The Debbys from Australia Exhibitors: Carol Queen, Annie Sprinkle; Tallulah Bankheist; Duran Ruiz; Elizabeth Stephens, Kevin P. Mosley, Nellie Wilson, Mim Weisburd, Katie Gilmartin, Carol Queen, Norma Jean Almodovar, Dara S., Sharon Leong, Frog and Jane Cassell. (Scroll down for bios and images.) Vendors- Dee Dee Russell and more TBA.
After Hours: The Opening Gala for the Sex Worker Film and Art Festival sponsored by the Center for Sex and Culture, a Benefit for the St. James Infirmary. This performance and art show opening features sex worker artists from near and far who seduce, challenge, and entertain you! The evening will be a mixer, raffle, a chance to get to know your local sex worker, find out more about the weeks's events, buy 'Sluts Unite T-Shirts,' register for "Whore College," and to support the St. James infirmary. Come and hang out with the sex workers!
“After Hours,” is described below by Jane Cassell of
the Center for Sex and Culture.
In “After Hours”, the first art show with The Sex Workers
Film and Arts Festival, we are getting the chance to see what happens
when people with experience in sex work, make art.
Two things stand out. One is that our bodies become an all-consuming
focus. The body is held by lovers, morphed, cut, and given wings. The
body is viewed and treated in ways often beyond the scope of everyday
life. The beauty of our pussys, our cocks, our hips, the way we look
at one another, and crock of our arms is revealed in these works. As
artists and (former and current) sex workers, our bodies are both tools
and toys.
The other thing that stands out is the complete artistic diversity contained
in the show, “After Hours.” There is everything from the
coolly composed “Wrench” by Elizabeth Stephens, to the richly
organic vulva shaped “Cowrie” by Mim Weisburd, to the frank
& hilarious “Caught You Looking” by Katie Gilmartin,
to the iconic muscle pop studs in “Parade” by Kevin Mosley.
Our bodies have been freed! The movement and beauty of our bodies has
become our language. We have brushes, cameras, and imagination to write
our stories, and “After Hours” is just the start.
Artists include: Elizabeth Stephens, Annie Sprinkle, Kevin P. Mosley,
Nellie Wilson, Mim Weisburd, Katie Gilmartin, Carol Queen, Norma Jean
Almodovar, Dara S., Sharon Leong, Frog and Jane Cassell. (Scroll down
for bios and images.)
Jane Cassell, curator
I make narrative,
autobiographic paintings, am working on a graphic novel and create assemblages.
For the past 10 years, I have shown my paintings in galleries in the
Midwest, New Mexico and the Bay Area. I moved to San
Francisco after being asked by my fellow artists to remove my work during
an erotic art show. They complained that my work was too "aggressive"
and "vulgar", and suspected I had "problems with sexuality."
In 1998 I co-founded a non-profit social services agency in Ohio called
Sexline Information. We were a grass-roots, volunteer organization,
and ran our free hotline offering callers sex-positive, accurate information
concerning all aspects of sexuality out of my home from 1999 to 2002.
Sexline's other programs included a free monthly zine, workshops and
a branch of The Safer Sex Sluts (TM).I also write, and recently had
my first piece accepted for publication. I'm working on my memoirs.
And yes, there are not enough hours in the fucking day!I'm a bisexual,
middle-aged feminist, ex-street hooker/stripper/welfare mother/punk
rocker/widow, artist, mother and grandmother who believes labels
can give others inspiration. I love the fact that the question "what
is sex" continues to be an important part of my life, and that
the answer to that question is constantly changing! I live with my husband,
our 3 cats, and too
many books & velvet paintings in a small apartment in San Francisco.
Sharon Leong
I raised was in Sacramento, California, in a conservative middle-class
environment from which I sought escape by throwing myself into the so-called
lurid world of the Freudian “id.” This transformed me into
a sexually
precocious youngster with a penchant for drawing half-naked people in
compromising situations (which I still do).
The subject matter of my artwork is primarily taken from personal experience.
I was a sex worker for a brief period during my art school years, and
I’ve drawn heavily upon that experience in making my paintings.
One can say that my paintings are like book covers to, or illustrations
of, certain chapters in my life.
I tend to see humor and/or irony in most sexual situations and as such,
much of my erotic art is satirical. Unfortunately, not everyone views
my art in that light and thus my paintings have had the dubious honor
of being banned from at least one San Francisco uptown gallery. I’ve
exhibited in numerous group shows worldwide, and have had four solo
shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Although painting is my primary
passion, I’ve also done illustrations for magazines and journals
(e.g., I illustrated the cover to J.T. Leroy’s story in McSweeney’s
No. 7). Recently, I was one of the featured artists in the book, Vicious,
Delicious and Ambitious: 20th Century Women Artists, by Sherri Cullison
(Schiffer Publishing). I work primarily with acrylic paint on
stretched canvas. Many of my
paintings can be seen on my web site: www.QueenofBpaintings.com
Elizabeth Stephens
Elizabeth Stephens is an artist and educator who lives and works in
San Francisco. She uses performance, web based media, sculpture and
photography to explore ordinary and extraordinary aspects of life such
as sex, sexuality and love. Her work can be seen at http://www.elizabethstephens.org/
Stephens enjoys working collaboratively and has most recently been collaborating
with her partner Annie Sprinkle. Their seven-year project (which began
this year) can be seen at http://www.loveartlab.org/.In this project
Stephens and Sprinkle are exploring love as art in all of its manifestations
and art forms.
Annie Sprinkle
Annie Sprinkle, Ph.D. is the prostitute/porn star turned performance
artist/sexologist. She has passionately explored sexuality for thirty-three
years, sharing her experiences through making her own unique brand of
sex/art films, writing books and articles, and teaching. She has toured
the world doing theater performances about her life in sex. Annie has
consistently championed sex worker rights and health care. Her brand
new book is Dr. Sprinkle’s SPECTACULAR SEX—MAKE OVER YOUR
LOVE LIFE. From Penguin/Tarcher (Release date: May 18) For more, see
anniesprinkle.org
Kevin P. Mosley
I have no formal art education or training but have always had something
going on, some project to keep my brain and hands busy. Making art is
neither mysterious nor scientific; it’s simply something I feel
I have to do as I move through the world. Living as I do, surrounded
by a parade of unintentional yet repetitive sameness, informs what and
how I paint; making and remaking the same iconic mage over and over
and over again using myself as the means of mechanical reproduction.
I think that mundane and routine images ought to be experienced as precious.
I started painting on glass in 1989 after Jon Brito, an upstairs neighbor
in New York, showed me how he did it. I paint only on found glass: old
wood-framed windows acquired with some cajoling from renovation contractors,
or the shelves and doors of a cabinet left behind and marked as “free”
at the end of a garage sale. Being limited to the size and shape of
the found glass is part of the process as is painting as fast as I can
and without much planning before starting a new piece. My work is held
in private collections in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington
D.C., and London.
Nellie Wilson
I have found a home for my erotic expression in watercolors, exploring
the complexity and beauty of vulvas, pussies, and cunts. This is my
first “coming out” as an erotic artist, although I have
been making “dirty” art
since I was about ten years old and discovered the pleasure that could
come from between my legs.
I first came to the Bay Area in 2002 to intern at the Center for Sex
and Culture where I encountered a diverse community of inspirational
artists, teachers, activists, and sex workers. After graduating from
college, I move out here and experimented with sex work, modeling for
a lesbian porn site, going to try outs at the Lusty Lady, and doing
erotic modeling. At this point, I am working toward becoming Surrogate
Partner as well as exploring erotic bodywork. I’m a bisexual,
kinky, earthy woman who delights in the vast diversity and beauty I
see in people’s sexuality. When I’m not at work or volunteering
at the Center for Sex and Culture, you can find me naked, hugging trees
or with a lover in the Oakland Hills.
Mim Weisburd
I have always been obsessed with the process of birth, growth, decay,
and rebirth. It is this transformative life cycle that has been at the
heart of not only my personal artistic expression, but also how I relate
to the world around me. As an art teacher, life coach, and future Expressive
Arts Therapist I hope to inspire those I work with by being a living
example of personal growth and transformation. I genuinely believe the
only way to change culture, is to participate in it fully. For some
time I had been supporting my creative endeavors by working for a very
successful online Adult store. I found the experience to be disappointing.
The company had a very limited vision of human sexuality. I was surprised
at how “Old School” most of the films were. They overwhelmingly
perpetuated the cliché of the perfect mindless body submitting
to the will of the viewer. The language used to market these films was
beyond offensive and degrading. In a true effort to transform culture,
I decided to add my unique voice and vision to the conversation by becoming
a model myself. I found the modeling experience very empowering as a
34 year old Genderfluid individual who does not conform to the mainstream
standards of beauty. It was refreshing to express my whole self, with
humor, intelligence, and vulnerability during the shoot. Most important
for me is that people will have access to erotic and explicit images
of an empowered person to enjoy! I intend to continue my work as a porn
model, teacher, healer, and artist. All with the hopes of transforming
our mass culture.
Katie Gilmartin
I valiantly attempted to embody the anguished suffering artist, but
chronic waffling and backsliding forced me to resign myself to a life
of delight, abundance, and gusto. I now devote myself to the redemptive
power of pleasure, creating images that celebrate mirth, ease, exuberance,
bliss, and lust. These are our birthright and, in a just and therefore
peaceful world,would be available to every one of us in abundance. I
co-own and co-operate City Art Cooperative Gallery, devoted to emerging
artists and emerging collectors, and winner of the Bay Guardian's Reader
Poll for Best Art Gallery three years running. I exhibit my work at
City Art, various other sites around the Bay Area, andonline
at katiegilmartin.com.
Frog
My name is Frog and this is
my living biography,as a kid I was raised in a conservative orthodox
catholic family, forced to go to church forced to wear a dress forced
t live within religious oppression, as a child I would stare at stain
glass windows in curchs and cathedrals in Italy. As a teenager in Orange
county,CA I was a rebellious sexual defiant and political misfit for
the enviroment that I was living in,I found through hitch-hiking I could
make some spending money and there is where my life began. In my early
20 s I lived in Long Bech,CA playing rock n roll and struggling,I decided
to get a job at Hard Bodies an excuse for a strip joint,they did not
allow full nudity so everyone wore a french cut bikini,I bartended and
kept men company at this time I identified as female. Later deciding
to come out of the closet and be a true libertine I moved to San Francisco
and my new queer life in 1989. Since I still identified as female at
this time I answered lots of ads for modelling jobs.I did erotic modelling
jobs for a greeting card company,scored a job getting brandedin a french
cut bikini for a Japenese magazine and scored another job in a soft
core flick as a street hooker stubbbing out smokes on a guys chest while
I simulated fucking him in my crotchless panties. Feeling like I wanted
to get the most out of my youth and my sturdy little compact body I
put on my Go Go boots and hot pants and strutted down to the Hungry
Eye where i then worked for a year and a half.I got some house cleanng
gigs from being a stripper and managed some tricks with my then girl
friend. I then i attempted to work in a dungeon as a submissive advertising
as male to female when I was evolving into my natural state of gender
queer non specific self.I didnt work there for long SO I went in more
manual labor in my more masculine self. In 2000 I met my long term live
in partner, who was a tantric priestess left handed practioner of thr
Red path of sexuality. I became her live in servant, houseboy property
whilst we lived in a working establishment, where I then evolve in my
art. Being influenced by eroticism, social politics, community and the
immediate neighborhood of 16th and Mission and the love of SAn Francisco
and the inspiration of the love of women. I always felt post apocolyptic
from as a child onward which brought me into the rebellion that is my
art. I launched myself completely into many shows expressing what I
see through people watching and world events, beating down against the
status quo, through my visual concepts and being a nonconformist freak
,I beleive in freedom and people that do come into their own.
Carol Queen
Carol Queen is a former prostitute and peep show performer-turned-noted
erotic writer and essayist whose secret life includes making collages,
almost always with sexual and spiritual content; they riff off the archetype
of the Sacred Whore, among other cultural influences. She has shown
at CityArt gallery, Sacred Profanities, and at the Sex Worker's Art
Show in Olympia. For more about her public life, see www.carolqueen.com
(you can email her there to discuss a custom collage, if you want one).
She performs her solo show Peep Show Fiday night at the Roxie.
Featured performers are: Mistress of Ceremonies, Sister Kitty Catalyst
and Kitten on The Keys.
Click here for more information about Cabaret Party
Sister Kitty Catalyst has been a threat to the status quo in San Francisco
since 1993. She continues to organize and produce alternative and counter-culture
events while putting the pagan into propaganda. Kitten on the Keys who
won the SF Weekly Music Award in the New Genre/Beyond Catagory for her
campy vaudvillian performances of her kinky cabaret ditties in 2003!
At the 2nd Annual NY Burlesque festival, Kitten won a Golden Pastie
Award for being the Biggest Tease! The Debbys from Australia-Debby doesn’t
do it for free, contradicts the mainstream media run of Sex work sleaze.
US and Canadian audiences have a one off chance to experience this complex,
colourful, Pro-whore documentation of sex worker experiences. Film,
performance, song, soundscape, poetry, fanzines, satire, installation,
and workshops offer up a confronting, collective voice as sex worker
autonomous organising takes over the gallery, stage and screen. You
will find no Pretty Woman amongst the Debby’s. Other performers
include Stacey Swimme, Sadie Lune, Ginger Virago and Dee Dee Russell.
Special guests include Scarlot Harlot (Festival Director) and Annie
Sprinkle.