Queer Art: From Canvas to Club, and the Spaces Between

by Gemma Rolls-Bentley

Bring LGBTQ+ artistic history to life with artwork and cultural landmarks celebrating the community.

The twentieth century saw landmark shifts for LGBTQ+ rights and recognition across the western from the Stonewall uprising, to the first pride parades and homosexuality law reforms. The years following these milestone moments have seen queer life face new challenges, celebrations, injustices and liberations.
 
As ever, this journey has been closely mapped by art and culture. Artists working across all mediums – from painting, performance, digital and beyond – have captured key moments impacting the LGBTQ+ community , from the HIV/AIDS crisis and the rise of drag, to marriage equality and the fight for trans liberation.
 
With a heady curation of artworks selected by leading LGBTQ+ curator Gemma Rolls-Bentley , this book mixes the high-brow with the low, gallery stalwarts with Instagram stars, and the racy with the fabulous. With over 170 works across thematic chapters covering Queer Spaces, Queer Bodies and Queer Power this is a unique celebration of queer life – a landmark book for art lovers and anyone interested in the visual culture surrounding queer identity.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, LGBT, Queer

240 pages, Hardcover

Published June 11, 2024

Reviews

[Max Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am leaving this review of my own accord.

I loved this. All the benefits of an art museum/gallery without the pressure of someone waiting behind you to read the blurb next to the works.

I loved the breadth of the works chosen, and the intentionality of these choices was apparent. So much life on display and so many artists that I’m left wanting to explore deeper. I need a physical copy of this one for sure.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provocative and inspiring. I love how much activism and disruption is displayed in this selection of queer art, as well as how much intimacy and joy. Sir Isaac Julian, Hernan Bas, Sola Oluode, Ghada Khunji, Xiyadie, Laurence Philomene, Tammy Rae Carland, Hugh Steers, Kehinde Wiley, Slava Mogutin, and Charmaine Poh were all standouts for me. And the section on Act Up and AIDS protest art. (It includes Zoe Leonard’s “I Want A President” manifesto, fuck yes.)

The breadth and depth of this collection make it a powerful representation of queer lives and queer love. And as this is a digital copy, I would love to one day page through it in print.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous and extremely well done book I’d LOVE to pour over a physical copy of. Unfortunately it was very difficult to read on my phone - because for comics (and I guess books with pictures as well) NetGalley doesn’t give you the option to send it to your Kindle, and having to constantly zoom in and out to be able to read/look at the photographs and paintings really hindered my reading experience. Still, this was so good and I’m so glad I decided to pick it up. It has so many beautiful and powerful images and a great dose of history and humanity as well. I loved that there were artists from all over the world included, most of whom I’d never heard of before. Some of my favorite art pieces from the book include:

Relationship #24 (The Shadow Self) by Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst, Unhomeliness by Whitney Chow, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) by David Hockney, B & P v3 by Amy Sillman, Blue Rug by Hugh Steers, Slave to the Rhythm by Patrick Angus, Iconic Mother Avis Pendavis and Daughter Evie, House of Chanel Ball, Marc Ballroom New York, 1990 by Chantal Regnault, Secret Hideout of the Flamingo Gang (Abandoned Paddle Boats) by Hernan Bas, Big Sur by Bernice Bing, Two Men Dancing by Robert Mapplethorpe, Try n' Pull tha Rains in on Me by Christina Quarles, Joe and Edgar by Doron Langberg, Sleep by Kehinde Wiley, Candy Darling on Her Deathbed by Peter Hujar, Every Moment Counts by Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Untitled #5 by Tessa Boffin, Anton Smoking by Slava Mogutin, Kady and Pagan in Their Cabin by JEB (Joan E. Biren), you my love by Ghada Amer, For Love, and For Country by Amy Sherald, Kissing Doesn't Kill, Greed and Indifference Do by Gran Fury, Jenny and Zac Holding Hands by Rene Matic, Fonofono o le nuanua: Patches of the rainbow (after Gauguin) by Yuki Kihara, Jimmy Paulette on David's Bike by Nan Goldin, Jean and Xener by Charmaine Poh, 'Fire Island Pines, Polaroids 1975-1983' by Tom Bianchi, Hari Sea by TM Davy, and A Conduit for Joy by Michaela Yearwood-Dan

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a well-thought out tribute to LGBTQIA+ artists and their creations. I went into this read not knowing much about the curator/author of this book, but having a fascination of queer art and being able to see art that causes me to think about my life and how being part of such a strong and unapologetic community helps me to be who I am today.

Rolls-Bentley takes us through several different subject lines where she’s taken a collection of artists and highlighted their work with not only a bit of their interpretation, but hers during the heading as well. While going through this book, I found a few artists that I ended up looking up to overview and if possible follow their collections.

I look forward to seeing the finished product of this and could see it as a good coffee table art book. Thank you for your work in giving these artists a beautiful avenue to share their work.

[Angharad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, the author, and to all the artists who had their work in this book for the ARC copy. These are my honest thoughts about the book.

Art is very subjective, and as such, some paintings and photos resonated a lot harder to me than others. Some pieces were beautiful, others were weird, and others were just not to my taste. It was a very diverse collection too, spanning all sorts of different ethnic and gender identities.

It would be a great coffee table book to give a friend that cares about Queer art, expression, and history.

[Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful coffee table type book containing LGBTQIA+ art, artists and their creations. Main sections include: Queer Spaces, Queer Bodies and Queer Power with smaller subsections. Each work is given a couple of paragraphs about the work and includes some of the authors interpretation. I did find some works of art that I have seen in my travels and visits to art museums but more works and artists were new to me. I can see this both for art lovers and library collections. Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion for the temporary ARC via NetGalley and I am leaving a voluntary review.

[Finn Lampe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Copy for review from NetGalley
___
This is a gorgeous book filled with queer art and history!! I loved flipping through it and reading about all the artworks mentioned in the book. It's an amazing collection worth reading through!

[Niké · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was wonderfully curated to show different types of art centering the queer community in the Western world. I really liked how it was thematically sorted into the chapters and the sheer amount of artwork that was inculed. The text was a welcome addition, although I sometimes wished the artwork was larger to see more details. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and this it's a nice introduction to queer art and history it presents.

Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Katelyn Broad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of this book was beautiful, while some was odd, and some a little horrifying. But that's the reality of life and I truly enjoyed it. The writing was good, along with the different styles of pictures and paintings.

[Razik❄️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awe-inspiring.

[looneybooks79 · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://looneybooks79.blog/2024/09/04...

Kunst en de queer community zijn al decennia met elkaar verbonden en zelfs langer. Als het niet door literatuur is (denk maar aan Oscar Wilde en Christopher Isherwood), dan is het dankzij schilder- of beeldhouwkunst zeker dat de community zich wenst uit te drukken, maar ook protesteren en aanklagen! Van onderdrukking tot het verwerven van nieuwe rechten, van de AIDS-epidemie en het eisen van trouw- en adoptierechten; de community heeft altijd op de bres gestaan. En sinds de Stonewall-rellen in 1969 ontstonden er de eerste gay en lesbian prides! Vandaag is dat in vele landen vanzelfsprekender, hebben we meer rechten en kunnen we tonen wie we zijn maar dat is niet overal en ook in de landen waar aanvaarding aanwezig is stoten we nog steeds op protest en tegenkanting. Denk maar aan de discussies die tegenwoordig zo vaak ontstaan als het gaat over gender en transmensen.

Gemma Rolls-Bentley stelt hier een fantastisch overzicht van kunst na Stonewall samen. Kunstenaars zoals Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Robert Indiana, Paul Cadmus, Keith Haring (zie foto eigen bezit hieronder) en een hele hoop andere waarbij het thema Queer allemaal aan bod komen.

Onderverdeeld in drie Acts (bijna alsof Gemma een toneelstuk opvoert aan de hand van de kunst) met in elke act een aantal thema’s zoals liefde, club, activisme, survival, queertopia en dergelijke! Per thema verzamelt Gemma dan een aantal kunstwerken en toont deze in het bod dankzij prachtig gemaakte foto’s met overal uitleg over het werk en uitvoerder.

Moderne kunst kan me niet altijd bekoren (vaak mis ik de symboliek en het verhaal erachter) maar door Gemma’s uitleg erbij wordt deze kunst toegankelijk, zie je meer, voel je meer en ontroert, bekoort en aanvaardt je wat de kunstenaar je wil vertellen!

Queer en Kunst, van doek tot digitaal en alles daartussen is een eerbetoon aan de jaren van protest en activistische kunst maar vooral een oproep tot aanvaarding en een verering van de liefde! Ik zei al tegen Gemma (die zelf ook curator is van tentoonstellingen) dat ze de werken in dit boek zou moeten verzamelen en een tour doen met een tentoonstelling rond deze (en andere) queer kunst! Ik ga zeker kijken dan!

English:

Gemma Rolls-Bentley (I adore that name, btw! Sounds so chic!) has collected a bunch of art with Queer as a theme in this book.

Queer art is about activism, love, queer spaces and protest, it’s about living through the ages of prides and epidemics, survival and the fight for equality and the right to love and be loved!

This collection would make a fantastic exhibition (as I said to Gemma already) and I’m sure it would draw a lot of attention. (Not all of it positive but let’s be honest, wouldn’t it be the purpose to show the haters that love is love?)

In a world where being queer has been accepted more and more but also the same world where we are again fighting for our rights and our freedom (and in general the discussions about transsexuality and gender these days) it would be good to show we are here, we are queer and we will stay put, fight, revolt when needed and never stop being who we are!

Gemma, thank you because this collection was amazing! The explanation you added about the artist and about the work of art makes it more accessible, more comprehensible to everyone!

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the sort of book that if I saw out in the wild I would buy it. I'm truly grateful to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion | Frances Lincoln for the preview and the opportunity to read every blurb and descriptor and preface .. now I have to wait until June to buy a copy??

Queer Art works to bring in queer art from all over the world, not just the well known and popular pieces from the West (although there are a few of those! They are important), letting us as readers/viewers experience works we would have never heard of otherwise. And it's all sorts of art, not just paintings and photography, but sculpture and stills from video, images from performance pieces, a whole wide gamut. Truly a special book that provides history and context for everything contained within.

(My only gripe, and it is very minor, is that the photograph Candy Darling on Her Deathbed was used in the preface for the 'Survival' chapter where most of the text describes the very real horror of HIV/AIDS, substance use disorder, and suicide-- this photograph would have been better suited within the chapter itself as she died of none of these things, but of lymphoma probably caused by underground unregulated hormones. Funnily enough I was just thinking about her and I turned the page and ta-dah!).

[Kylie Noble · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. An interesting look at queer art/artists from the 1960s to the present day. A strength of the collection of art is how global it is and how many different art forms are included - alongside paintings and sculpture, stills of performance art, from films and video games and photographs of protests. I found the narrative of queerness presented as a bit 2D. Queer = morally good. I wanted the home section to delve more into the pain and trauma of home, for example. Within the love section, the line on how queer parents deeply love and want their children presented as universally true - when there are abusive queer people as well as straight. The book is celebratory in tone and I understand it wishes to resist the negative stereotypes and assumptions about queer people but I would have preferred more moral depth and exploration to the narrative in which the art is presented.

[Shealen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book highlights notable artists and individual artworks that have contributed to cultural framework of queer art and artists. I enjoyed the wide selection of artists that are featured with a great balance of big names and those that I was not aware of and gave me new insight and info into them. Artworks are selected from Postmodern period (1970s-1990s) as well as later Contemporary works of today. I found this nicely mixed and the categories/chapters well curated and organized. I will definitely be suggesting this to students who want to explore more about queer art and artists, and I know I myself will also reference some artists I learned about from this book in some of my lectures about Postmodern art culture.

[Kait W · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was beautifully researched and showcased a multitude of queer artists and their work. There are a lot of pieces it made me want to look further into. I found it admirable for attempting to depict non-print media, such as entire films or video series. I’m still deciding how I felt those landed in this text/still image based format, but I’d rather them have been included because they are art and deserve to be referenced in compilations such as this. The author described the context and intersectionality that the works existed within/stemmed from which highlighted their individuality, while also connecting them across wide-spanning generations and cultures all over the world through the section themes.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gemma Rolls-Bentley has put together a stunning selection of work by LGBTQI+ Artists for this incredible coffee table book. The publication during the Pride month of June should create a lot of interest for this collection. Well known artists like Keith Haring and Francis Bacon but also not so well known artists are featured. From photographs over paintings to sculptures and installations, this book covers a broad variety of queer art forms. The featured artworks are accompanied by a short but very informative description.

A great book for lovers of modern art!

Many thanks to Netgalley and White Lion Publishing for the eARC!

[Allen Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully curated book on queer art. It features a variety of queer artists using different artistic mediums to document, explore, and express what it means to be queer. The book is divided into three acts - QUEER SPACES, QUEER BODIES, and QUEER POWER. It is well organized and gives descriptions of each artwork and what the work means and how it expresses queerness. I learned so much about queer art and found tons of new artists to follow and learn more about. This is a book you can take your time with revisit often. Highly recommend.

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

A moving collection of queer multimedia art. I discovered so many new pieces and artists I was unfamiliar with, and this is an absolutely beautiful compendium. The book is formatted topically, ranging from "Survival" to "Home" to "Body" and more, and the artwork is thoughtfully selected to depict the range of queer experiences from (primarily) the late 20th century on. I'm definitely going to purchase a physical copy of this book!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review through NetGalley. This in no way influences the content or rating of my review.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely incredible and I can't wait to get my hands on a print copy of it to enjoy to the max. It's filled with such a variety of art, along with rich context for all of the art and artists included within. The art is thematically organized, allowing for the development of these key themes but it also makes the variety of art in each themed section feel even more textured than it would if it were sorted by era or style of art. I learned more about a ton of new artists and I really loved the author's compilation of this art!

[Vanessa]

T'was okay. I think others got more from this than me. The art was mostly stuff I'd walk right by in a gallery--I recognised some artists in here, and in some cases, wondered why their many other more moving pieces were skipped over for what was chosen. (And I don't understand why so many of them were single screenshots from videos + descriptions of what we would totally understand and see if we actually watched the performance.) I think my & the author's tastes in art are very, very different.

[Becky Swales-Blanchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never seen the majority of this artwork before which is such a shame. The art was so varied, from all across history and across the world. I liked how the book was divided into different sections and this is definitely a book to go back to again and again. Rolls-Bentley writes about art in such a passionate and informed way.

My favourite parts were the 'Survival' section and the artwork 'Sleep' by Kehinde Wiley.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC

[Ni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Queer Art by Gemma Rolls-Bentley is a lovely and interesting collection of queer art created by a variety of artists, some well-familiar names and other welcome introductions. Split into three acts: Queer Spaces, Queer Bodies and Queer Power, the book is able to cover a lot of different aspects of queer art, with subsections such as Home, Survival, Intimacy and Queertopia. A nice book to get acquainted with queer art and a bit of its history.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[Lisa Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how this book is divided by theme and time period so you can see how things have changed over time. The art is beautiful and the subjects are often so brave. This would be great as a gift book and for library collections, or as a coffee table book.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

[Ag · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, y’all! This book! This book is life!
It is the most absolute perfection that has ever existed.
There are photos, there are drawings and paintings, there are stories and there is it alllllll and it all is queer, and it’s all alive and beautiful.
Beautiful. It. Is. So. Breathtakingly. Beautiful.

[Eugene Galt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance review copy.

An art critic at a local newspaper once said that art should be allowed to speak for itself. What happens when the art uses a vocabulary that the viewer does not know?

This book groups the works by theme and discusses the historical and social context both of each theme and of each work. The book thus helps the viewer with the language barrier to understanding the art.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an excellent primer of queer art and exposition. I thoroughly enjoyed the images included but the accompanied writings included in the book were equally excellent. I feel as though I learned a great deal from this book and I look forward to adding a physical copy to my shelves.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this Arc copy in exchange for my review.

[Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

This is a beautifully curated queer coffee table book.
The art was stunning and the historical bits were really interesting.
You can see the amazing work the author did with their research.
Very different and insightful.

[Marianna Henson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a great book! There are so many amazing pieces of art and great descriptions to go along with them. 4 🌟

[Caitlin Helms-Voss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was super excited to read this and for its credit i do recommend it for an introduction to some queer art. I’m docking a star for featuring a fucking NFT artist (it’s 2024, come on) and a few other gripes i have with the book that i’m not getting into here, mostly with some of the language used.

[Chanel Chapters]

About queer identity
evocative and confronting.
Read trigger warnings