Participant is proud to present the Gordon Kurtti Project, curated by Carl George of Allied Productions. Gordon Stokes Kurtti produced a brief yet concentrated burst of artistic output in the early ‘80s before his life was cut short by HIV/AIDS, a disease that claimed so many of his peers. This exhibition is the first to collect his drawings and paintings, as well as his work in film, performance, and poetry, tracing Kurtti’s lasting impact on the East Village art scene. A vital and collaborative persona who drifted from nightclubs to film sets, Kurtti sketched his social milieu with an extraordinarily sure hand. Included in the exhibition are fine-line drawings and caricature collages of peers and performers like Hapi Phace, Lypsinka, Lady Bunny, Kimberly Flynn, and Tabboo! (Stephen Tashjian). Remarkable, too, was his ability to render the defining details of a character, especially in his humorous and outrageously pointed caricatures of celebrities like Sam Shepard, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Katherine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Annie Lennox and Prince, among others.

EVENTS:

One Night Stands

A performance series recalling the mid-'80s zeitgeist with celebrated writers and performance artists.

Wednesday, June 5: Q. Sakamaki, Kembra Pfahler, Joe Westmoreland, Eileen Myles

Wednesday, June 12: P.O.O.L. presents The Jack and Peter Show starring Jack Waters, Peter Cramer, and Justin Sayre with special guests Carlo Maria Ampil, Connor Donahue, Ariana Huffenstuff, Jim Hubbard, Ryan E. Roger, and Sarah Schulman

Wednesday, June 19: Hapi Phace & Agosto Machado, Edgar Oliver, Marga Gomez

Wednesday, June 26: Kimberly Flynn, John “Lypsinka” Epperson, Penny Arcade

Wednesday, July 3: Samoa, Carmelita Tropicana, Karen Finley

Wednesday, July 10: Linda Simpson, John Kelly

 

Dirty Looks + Visual AIDS

Thursday, June 20, 7pm

A screening and panel discussion on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Visual AIDS, celebrating the downtown scene of the 1980s and early ‘90s, featuring rarely seen films by Carl George and David Wojnarowicz. The panel includes Jack Waters, Rayya Elias, and C. Carr, moderated by Esther Kaplan, Editor in Chief of The Investigative Fund / The Nation Institute. 

Naked Eye Cinema

Friday, June 28 7:30pm
at Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, NYC

An evening of experimental film curated by Jack Waters featuring Kurtti as an actor or set and costume designer, including La Belle Fleur (1985) and The Lost 40 Days (1986) by Carl George; Penny Candy (1985) by Peter Cramer; Brains By Revlon (1986) by Jack Waters; and Hystery (1985) by Bradley Eros and Aline Mare of Erotic Psyche.