Queer Art (Art Essentials)

A concise, accessible and global overview of modern and contemporary queer art, co-written by notable curators in the field.

Queer Art is a commanding compendium of LGBTQ+ art that highlights its ongoing resilience from the 19th century to the present day. Spanning generations and geographies, Queer Art’s carefully curated selection of practitioners paints a rich picture of LGBTQ+ visual culture, underscoring the complexity of lived experience and cutting through the basic understanding of the subject that seeks to measure ‘queerness’ against overt homoeroticism and proven homosexuality.

Queer art curators Mollie E. Barnes and Gemma Rolls-Bentley begin by exploring how resilience has shaped artistic expression, establishing the historical backdrop against which queer art has evolved. From liberation to intersectionality, reclamation to futurism, four thematic chapters unpack the key concerns of queer art as they relate to the work of artists such as Keith Haring, Bhupen Khakhar, Hélio Oiticica, Catherine Opie, Lotte Laserstein and Xiyadie. By exploring the notion of ‘queer art’ through the lens of both historical figures and contemporary practitioners, Queer Art adopts a dual focus, traversing the past and present to reflect on covert histories whilst imagining radical futures in which art not only reflects but shapes social norms.