Flaming Senses:

UVM exhibits work by gay artists

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BURLINGTON/MANCHESTER
CENTER -- The Francis Colbum
Gallery at the ,_l_Jniversity of Vermont
will present “Flaming ',Senses”, a
collaborative exhibit by artists Kevin
Cook and Steven Dunning. The exhibit
includes highly colored acrylic paintings
and jarring video screen images that
express the artists’ gay male political
and sexual concerns. The videos take a

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: Name

Steve Dunning The Fun Bath

fresh look at

common, everyday
occurrences while the paintings put a
subversive spin on icons of popular
culture.

Dunning uses photographs from books
and magazines of the 1940’s and l950’s
in his paintings. “I look for images that
were intended to promote the ideals of
mainstream America,” Dunning said. “I

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September 1994

use the same strategies of print media,
creating associations between pictures
and text to alter the viewer’s
consciousness and awareness, but the
irony here is that I subvert their original
meanings to address social conditions of
the gay subculture."

Cook uses electronic image—processing
to produce videos bearing experimental
narratives that challenge the conventions
of the television industry. “My goal is to
make videotapes that are proof that a
creative alternative to commercial
television does indeed exist. To do this. I
combine the usual with the unusual. both
in terms of subject matter and imagery.
The videotapes can be lighthearted and
serious at the same time and high-tech
computer-generated images are often
combined with low-tech camcorder
images. They are as visually appealing
as music videos, but they tell a much
different story.”

As suggested by the titles dual meaning,
the artists employ two seemingly
divergent modes of expression - one
serious in intent and articulation. the
other equally serious yet rooted in the
camp sensibility of the gay subculture.
The artists make no attempt, however, to
separate the two forms of expression.
Paintings of men with Kaposi’s sarcoma
coexist with paintings of empty starlets
and preening muscle-bound boys.

“Flaming Senses” will be on exhibit in the
Francis Colbum Gallery on the second
floor of Williams Hall at UVM from
August 31 through September 16. V

 

Vermont Gay Social
Alternatives
Founded 1990

For membership information write:
VGSA, P.O. Box 237,
Burlington, VT 05402-0237
or call Cliff 985-4937, Bob 865-3734