Taking its title from a song by Lou Reed dedicated to his trans lover Rachel, Coney Island Babies, curated by Chris Bogia and Montgomery Smith for Fire Island Artist Residency, brings together a group of visual artists working in and around Brooklyn’s flourishing young avant-garde drag scene. The artists here all do double duty as drag queens, musicians or designers, and the line between “artistic studio practice” and drag is blurred by their social practices and performance work. From their studios to the Bushwig mainstage, these artists are creating culture and community that is unapologetically rebellious, ferociously beautiful and superbly queer.
Coney Island Babies, presented by Fire Island Artist Residency at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, features a group of emerging artists working in a multitude of media including fashion, photography, video, sculpture, drawing, design and performance. Many of the artists incorporate their work from the studio in drag performances, and the exhibition will reflect this by including ephemera and recordings from drag performances alongside formal studio works. Free public programming will include live performances and conversations about the current Brooklyn drag scene, its legendary influences, and its evolving future.
The exhibition includes works by: Fred Attenborough/Sophi Skin-Tight, Tyler Ashley, Brad Callahan, Luc Craig/Lucy Balls, Harry James Hanson/Amber Alert, Hystée Lauder, Chris of Hur, Matthew de Leon/Untitled Queen, Raul de Nieves, Donald C Shorter, Sisters in the Attic/Anthony Argentina and Glossy Bohemond, Montgomery Perry Smith/Patti Spliff, Sasha Steinberg/Sasha Velour, Vincent Tiley/Jon Benet Glamsey, Victor-John Villanueva/Victor Pump.
Coney Island Babies is on view at the Bureau from October 1 through November 27, 2016.
About Fire Island Artist Residency:
Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR) is an organization founded in 2011 which brings gay, bisexual, transgender and queer identifying artists to Fire Island, a place long-steeped in LGBTQ history, to create, commune, and contribute to the location’s rich legacy
Image: Fred Attenborough, Babes, 2010, Impossible Polaroid (taken at CLUMP at Trophy Bar)
