For the second installment of Gladstone’s annual Pride Show, That’s So Gay, curator Sholem Krishtalka continues to poke and prod at what the word “queer” means now, and what it’s evolving to mean. Pride shows tend to focus on the artist’s sexual identity; but queer art isn’t, and shouldn’t necessarily be a product of whom you take to bed.

The artists involved in this show are not necessarily gay (some of them are what society at large would deem heterosexual couples). But they are all certainly queer. Pride shows tend to focus on the sexuality of the artists but what about the sexuality of the work? For The New Queer, Krishtalka has chosen queer work. These artists’ practices challenge heteronormative modes of art-making: the polymorphously perverse manifestos of the FASTWÜRMS, here in collaboration with Cecilia Berkovic; the orgiastic collaborations of Team Macho; the phantasmatic otherworldly universes of Shary Boyle; the bombastic psychedelia of Michael Comeau; the psycho-sexual narratives of Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby; the puckish multiple-identity drag of Alison SM Kobayashi.

Following the opening reception the Gladstone Hotel presents the first GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE DANCE PARTY. Sorry Catholic School Board, there’s nothing you can do to stop our fun. We’re throwing a party! These AMAZING FANTASTIC Line-up of “GAY” & “STRAIGHT” DJ’s will keep you dancing:
Brendan Canning (Broken Social Scene)
Cozmic Cat (Cherry Bomb/ First Fridays / Soul’d Out)
Steve Rock (Motown Party / 90s Party)
and Shane MacKinnon (who does everything!!!!)
Special dance performance at midnight by the spirit squad JAT!

Private school uniforms encouraged!

Queer isn’t just a way of effing — it’s a way of being.

2010 Show Details:

The title is a cheeky re-appropriation of the word “gay,” now that it’s become widely accepted slang for anything and everything uncool; and through that, a reflection on how queers have needed to constantly fight with language, appropriating and re-appropriating words in order to assert themselves at this very basic linguistic level. The exhibition assembles work that deals with the queer experience, and is knowing, assertive and even aggressive about it.

Curated by Sholem Krishtalka

Artists:
Stephen Andrews, Romy Ceppetelli, Chris Curreri, Anthony Easton, Claire Egan, Grant Heaps, Jean Paul Kelly, Kris Knight, Logan MacDonald, Will Munro, Lori Newdick, Sojourner Truth Parsons, Ed Pien, Pandy Ramada, Kim Sheppard, Zanette Singh, Sharon Switzer
Kyle Tryhorn, Jim Verburg, Daryl Vocat, Robert Weir

Sponsors:
Akau Framing
Paul Petro Contemporary Art

Thank you:
O’Connor Gallery

After Party: Gay Straight Alliance Thursday June 24, 10-Late – Ballroom

Featuring:

Brendan Canning (Broken Social Scene)
Cozmic Cat (Cherry Bomb)
Shane Mackinnon
Steve Rock (90’s Party, Motown Party)

Gladstone Ballroom | $5 before 11pm, $10 after

w/ performances by JAT! | Interpretive Private School uniforms encouraged.