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Zoom Fairoaks Project: Photographs by Frank Melleno Open Reception June 7, 2013 7-10 pm  Polaroids from a San Francisco bathhouse in 1978 Curated by Gary Freeman   Center for Sex and Culture 1349 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103   A Rare Look inside a SF Gay Bathhouse in 1978               Frank Melleno’s Polaroid photography captured an extraordinary glimpse into pre-AIDS gay sexual culture. Melleno was part-owner and night manager of The Fairoaks Hotel, a unique San Francisco bathhouse operating from 1977 to 1979.  His candid images are remarkable, documenting the social and sexual behavior with celebration and no apology.             The Fairoaks was owned and operated by a gay commune, lending a counter-culture approach to the establishment. There were monthly theme parties including costume and “Open Door” parties, when room doors would be removed from hinges.  Many images contain nudity and erotic scenes.             The restored images, known as The Fairoaks Project, were well received at Los Angeles venues Highways and drkrm/Gallery. The Advocate and Lambda Literary have written articles on The Fairoaks Project.             The Boyfriend, a singing trio tracing its origin to performance artist Vaginal Davis, will perform at the opening.  


Fairoaks Project: Photographs by Frank Melleno

Open Reception June 7, 2013 7-10 pm 

Polaroids from a San Francisco bathhouse in 1978

Curated by Gary Freeman

 

Center for Sex and Culture

1349 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

 

A Rare Look inside a SF Gay Bathhouse in 1978

 

            Frank Melleno’s Polaroid photography captured an extraordinary glimpse into pre-AIDS gay sexual culture. Melleno was part-owner and night manager of The Fairoaks Hotel, a unique San Francisco bathhouse operating from 1977 to 1979.  His candid images are remarkable, documenting the social and sexual behavior with celebration and no apology.

            The Fairoaks was owned and operated by a gay commune, lending a counter-culture approach to the establishment. There were monthly theme parties including costume and “Open Door” parties, when room doors would be removed from hinges.  Many images contain nudity and erotic scenes.

            The restored images, known as The Fairoaks Project, were well received at Los Angeles venues Highways and drkrm/Gallery. The Advocate and Lambda Literary have written articles on The Fairoaks Project.

            The Boyfriend, a singing trio tracing its origin to performance artist Vaginal Davis, will perform at the opening.

 

3 notes
Center for Sex and Culture frank mellano gallery
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Zoom Awash in Bodies: Work on Paper by Colette Standish and Jos Truitt Showing Friday, December 7, 2012- Sunday, January 27, 2013 Receptions: Friday, December 7, 7-10pm and Friday, January 4, 7-10 pm with artists’ talk at 8pmGallery hours: Mondays and Fridays from 10:30-4 pm and by appointment contact sexandculturegallery@gmail.com Bodies are, literally, our selves. Bodies are also our most used and useful metaphors, in all kinds of communication. The body is both the ultimate in the concrete description of human experience and also the most basic ground for projection or interpretation. Colette Standish and Jos Truitt both begin and end their work with bodies that are anything but static as their figures confront varied meanings as well as the full weight of being. Colette Standish works liquids on surfaces so scrumptiously and aggressively that there is little doubt about her erotic intent or inspiration. The shifted and shifting focus evident in her washes and mark making are the constant movement of a lover’s eye and hand. Exaggeration and dizzying angles on the page are clearly tethered to a delight in the senses and a vindication of curvaceous forms. Extrapolating from the gory Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, “The Little Mermaid,” Jos Truitt interrogates moments of variable transformations. Truitt’s recent series focuses on issues of mislocation and body modification integral to this story. In Truitt’s tactile mixed media works, legs and fishtails are severed, stitched and bound. Dripping blood and oozing plasma onto flesh, scales and fingerprints, the tails dance across the borders of life and death, human and animal, subject and object. Artist bios: Colette Standish is an English painter and photographer. Colette graduated from St Martin’s School of Art, London, and has exhibited extensively throughout Europe and America. Her achievements include: Jessop’s Photography Prize in London, 2000 and fellowship awards in New Mexico, Italy, and Spain. Her work is in many public and private collections, including the Museum of Fine Art in Santa Fe and the Anais Nin Foundation Art collection. Colette published her first art and poetry book in 2010, Viaggio: A journey through life’. Other publications include: A Cafe in Space: The Anais Nin Literary Journal Volume 8, 2011 and Volume 9, 2012, Sky Blue Press. Colette’s new paintings are based on an on going project ‘Abstracting the Figure’. Jos Truitt received her BA from Hampshire College with a thesis in Printmaking in 2009 and is currently pursuing an MFA in Printmaking and an MA in the History and Theory of Contemporary Art from the San Francisco Art Institute. Truitt is a visual artist as well as editor at the popular blog feministing.com. Truitt has worked in the reproductive health, rights and justice movements in Washington, DC, spoken and at numerous national conferences and college campuses about transgender issues, reproductive justice, blogging, feminism, and grassroots organizing. PressSF Weekly: “Awash in Bodies”: Sensual Watercolors and The Little Mermaid as Trans Fairy TaleFeministing: In the Bay Area? Come see Jos’s art show!

Awash in Bodies: Work on Paper by Colette Standish and Jos Truitt

Showing Friday, December 7, 2012- Sunday, January 27, 2013

Receptions: Friday, December 7, 7-10pm and Friday, January 4, 7-10 pm with artists’ talk at 8pm
Gallery hours: Mondays and Fridays from 10:30-4 pm and by appointment contact sexandculturegallery@gmail.com

Bodies are, literally, our selves. Bodies are also our most used and useful metaphors, in all kinds of communication. The body is both the ultimate in the concrete description of human experience and also the most basic ground for projection or interpretation. Colette Standish and Jos Truitt both begin and end their work with bodies that are anything but static as their figures confront varied meanings as well as the full weight of being.

Colette Standish works liquids on surfaces so scrumptiously and aggressively that there is little doubt about her erotic intent or inspiration. The shifted and shifting focus evident in her washes and mark making are the constant movement of a lover’s eye and hand. Exaggeration and dizzying angles on the page are clearly tethered to a delight in the senses and a vindication of curvaceous forms.

Extrapolating from the gory Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, “The Little Mermaid,” Jos Truitt interrogates moments of variable transformations. Truitt’s recent series focuses on issues of mislocation and body modification integral to this story. In Truitt’s tactile mixed media works, legs and fishtails are severed, stitched and bound. Dripping blood and oozing plasma onto flesh, scales and fingerprints, the tails dance across the borders of life and death, human and animal, subject and object.

Artist bios:

Colette Standish is an English painter and photographer. Colette graduated from St Martin’s School of Art, London, and has exhibited extensively throughout Europe and America. Her achievements include: Jessop’s Photography Prize in London, 2000 and fellowship awards in New Mexico, Italy, and Spain. Her work is in many public and private collections, including the Museum of Fine Art in Santa Fe and the Anais Nin Foundation Art collection. Colette published her first art and poetry book in 2010, Viaggio: A journey through life’. Other publications include: A Cafe in Space: The Anais Nin Literary Journal Volume 8, 2011 and Volume 9, 2012, Sky Blue Press. Colette’s new paintings are based on an on going project ‘Abstracting the Figure’.

Jos Truitt received her BA from Hampshire College with a thesis in Printmaking in 2009 and is currently pursuing an MFA in Printmaking and an MA in the History and Theory of Contemporary Art from the San Francisco Art Institute. Truitt is a visual artist as well as editor at the popular blog feministing.com. Truitt has worked in the reproductive health, rights and justice movements in Washington, DC, spoken and at numerous national conferences and college campuses about transgender issues, reproductive justice, blogging, feminism, and grassroots organizing.

Press
SF Weekly: “Awash in Bodies”: Sensual Watercolors and The Little Mermaid as Trans Fairy Tale
Feministing: In the Bay Area? Come see Jos’s art show!

Colette Standish Jos Truitt Center for Sex and Culture gallery exhibition
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The Dirty Comics Show 2012 - Curated by Jon Macy Reception: Friday, November 2, 2012 - 7:00pm to 10:00pm Free to mature adults.  The Center for Sex & Culture at 1349 Mission St. San Francisco, CA between 9th and 10th. —- The awesome comic book art show dealing with sex, sexuality and gender has been extended to “hang” another month. Come check it out this friday and see some awesome art that really pushes boundaries and, shock value aside, does some serious work expanding the conversation. You will not find this stuff anywhere else but good ol’ SF. Join us in celebrating the unique, funny, and sometimes disturbing stories about sex that can only be done through the comics medium. After last years’ success, the Dirty Comics Show has been asked to do it again and delve deeper into varied, queer sexual (mis)adventures. Featuring the art of Agnes Czaja, Avery Cassell, Nickie Charles, Edie Fake, Mari Naomi and Christine Smith. This is the kind of art show you bring friends from out of town to see when you want to freak them out, er, I mean, inspire them with the subtle charms of San Francisco. For more information and gallery hours please inquire at sexandculturegallery@gmail.com

The Dirty Comics Show 2012 - Curated by Jon Macy

Reception: Friday, November 2, 2012 - 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Free to mature adults. 

The Center for Sex & Culture at 1349 Mission St. San Francisco, CA between 9th and 10th.

—-

The awesome comic book art show dealing with sex, sexuality and gender has been extended to “hang” another month. Come check it out this friday and see some awesome art that really pushes boundaries and, shock value aside, does some serious work expanding the conversation. You will not find this stuff anywhere else but good ol’ SF.

Join us in celebrating the unique, funny, and sometimes disturbing stories about sex that can only be done through the comics medium. After last years’ success, the Dirty Comics Show has been asked to do it again and delve deeper into varied, queer sexual (mis)adventures.

Featuring the art of Agnes Czaja, Avery Cassell, Nickie Charles, Edie Fake, Mari Naomi and Christine Smith. This is the kind of art show you bring friends from out of town to see when you want to freak them out, er, I mean, inspire them with the subtle charms of San Francisco.

For more information and gallery hours please inquire at sexandculturegallery@gmail.com

dirty comics gallery Center for Sex and Culture Jon Macy Agnes Czaja Avery Cassell Nickie Charles Edie Fake Mari Naomi Christine Smith
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From the Collection of Larry Townsend

Photos by Marilyn Roxie

larry townsend gallery Center for Sex and Culture art
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The Center for Sex & Culture, located in San Francisco at 1349 Mission St. between 9th and 10th, strives to promote creativity, information and healthy sexual knowledge.

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