Hunter O'Hanian Interview
Hunter O'Hanian assumed the role of Executive Director of the College Art Association in July of 2016. Before this role, he had a history of non-profit involvement as the Director of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay & Lesbian Art, Executive Director for the Foundation of Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, and Executive Director for Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. Throughout his career, he's collaborated with or acquired the works of a diverse range of LGBTQ artists and graciously took the time to discuss those individuals who had the greatest impact on him.
Through your directorships at Leslie-Lohman in New York, and Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, you’ve encountered a wide range of queer expression in the arts. Are there particular artists or works that have left a lasting impact on you? What drew you to them?
The experiences at Leslie-Lohman and FAWC were dramatically different with regard to queer expression. At FAWC, despite the fact that it is located in Provincetown, which is widely known as a gay destination, queer themes in work seldom arose. Certainly there were queer folks there and they sometimes presented that part of their lives in their work, it was never something that received that much attention. It was because of this fact that I organized an exhibition at FAWC entitled Queer Fellows – A Side Seldom Seen a few years ago. The purpose of the exhibition was to look at the work of former FAWC fellows who specifically addressed queer themes in some of their work. I included work by Ari Banias, Jarrod Beck, Geoffrey Chadsey, Erica Cho, Angela Dufresne, Elliott Hundley, Mala Iqubal, Jane Kogan, Viet Le, Jennie Livingston, Grace Sullivan, Jack Pierson, Jacolby Satterwhite and Antony Viti. Clearly, I have been drawn to the work of all of these artists, many of whom I know personally. The exhibition showed that many FAWC fellows incorporated queer themes in their work and had done so for decades.
The experience at Leslie-Lohman was much different, however. There, the entire focus was queer artists. The collection has more than 30,000 objects by close to 5,000 artists and nearly all of those are queer. During my tenure at Leslie-Lohman, I organized more than 50 exhibitions, incorporating the work of hundreds of other queer artists. I took in thousands of new pieces into the collection while I was there.
Given how many artists and pieces I came in contact with, it is difficult to select individual artists or works in any organized or scholarly fashion. I guess that I am most struck by those who are willing to take risks to express themselves and find a new way to do it. Selecting individual artists or works is difficult, as the list is long, but here are my favorites: Thomas Eakins, F. Holland Day, Romaine Brooks, Marsden Hartley, Bernice Abbott, Paul Cadmus, George Platt Lynes, Forrest Bess, Charles Henri Ford, Duncan Grant, Bernard Perlin, Touko Laaksonen, Ray Johnson, George Dureau, Duane Michals, James Bidgood, Peter Hujur, Derek Jarman, Jimmy DeSana, Harmony Hammond, Patrick Angus, David Wojnarowicz, Richard Attila Lukacs, Mark Morrisroe, Zanele Muholi, Heather Cassils and Bryson Rand.
The landscape of queer space is changing and becoming more digital, with the advent of dating apps and increasing LGBTQ themed media. Have you seen an impact on queer museums or cultural spaces? How do you think such institutions can evolve to take advantage of this change?
First, it is important to remember that there are not all that many brick-and-mortar “queer museums and cultural spaces.” Despite the abundance of queer concepts in the public arena, there have been very few new queer cultural organizations or spaces created over the past decade. As a result, a large part of the interchange for queer culture and art happens in the digital world. But for those that do exist, they seem to be thriving and programing to reach more members of the LGBTQ world. In addition, there is no question that main stream museums have chosen to show more gay themed exhibitions. Only time will tell if this is just a reflection of the moment or whether it reflects a meaningful shift in acceptance.
For queer artists and curators, there is no question that digital social media is a great way to discover and connect with other gay artists. While true that dating apps provide some insight, I see other platforms such as Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook as being successful platforms for sharing and discovering queer work. Brick and mortar organizations are most successful when their curators mine the great work from these fields. Rather than in opposition to the brick and mortar locations, the digital world provides a wonderful, if jumbled index to queer work.
The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art was founded in response to the AIDS crisis, to serve as a safe repository of LGBTQ themed art and art collected by LGBTQ individuals. How have you seen the patterns of queer collecting and display evolve on the personal and institutional levels throughout your career? What do you see coming next?
There is no question that mainstream institutions have embraced queer work in recent years. Some are doing a great job: The Whitney is working on a David Wojnarowicz exhibition. The Morgan Library is working on a Peter Hujar show, Peter Hujar: The Speed of Light. The Museum of the City of New York just did a great exhibition called Gay Gotham. MOMA has Tom of Finland’s work in its collection. However, other institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art still bury their heads in a 1950’s mentality about homosexuality. One only has to look at how the curators obfuscate the sexual orientation of John Singer Sargent or Marsden Hartley to see the intentionality behind their actions.
As far as individual collectors go, I think that the jury is still out. Many people, both gay and straight, still have a hard time collecting and exhibiting gay-themed work in their own homes. Despite the number of private collectors I know, I have to say that it is only a small percentage that openly and unabashedly display the work.
I do think that we will see this change in the decades to come however. I am heartened to see many young people not feel threated by sexually themed images – whether they are gay or straight. Many seem to be far more accepting than prior generations.
Within object culture there are objects that are intentionally queer (like the AIDS Quilt) and works that have a history of queer appropriation or affinity (like the flamboyant depictions of Saint Sebastian and their re-appropriation by Pierre et Giles), and objects that elicit or provoke an unintentionally queer experience. This diversity to queer interpretation can make it difficult for museums to effectively tag their works for queer audiences or researchers. Have you seen any museums approach this successfully? What compelling ways have you seen museums engage with queer audiences?
As in most cases, honesty is the best policy. To speak of genres in the gay themed work: AIDS, domesticity, figurative, religious icons, is simply to acknowledge the facts. These are themes that queer art makers have used for centuries. All museums have to do is acknowledge them.
The interesting this is that many museums acknowledge a heterosexual point of view of a straight artist, however, few are willing to talk about the gay part of any artists life. It is as if they don’t want to embarrass the visitor or the artist. I’m never really sure. The Whitney, Morgan Library, Tacoma Art Museum, Bronx Museum, National Gallery have all made successful attempts in recent years.
As we progress further into a political administration with a demonstrable record of hostility towards arts funding and minority groups, can you discuss ways LGBTQ artists, museums or cultural institutions may advocate for their continued funding? Are there resources that chart the economic impact of artist colonies like Provincetown, or museums like Leslie-Lohman that have provided a platform for LGBTQ artists?
Queer artists, their supporters and sympathetic institutions have to stand up for their rights and demand that gay themed work not be excluded because of its content. They have to be sure their voices are heard. We must remember what happened in the 1950s with the McCarthy-driven Lavender Scare and the Culture Wars of the late 1980s.
Gay people are an economic force – as is arts and culture. Together they have a powerful impact. Just look at how businesses turned against states which tried to enforce laws that would intentionally discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community. It was not because they thought it was right – they were worried about how it would affect their bottom line and their work force. Those dollars and cents are quantifiable and have a great impact. Look at how Republican members of Congress voted in spring 2017 against the President’s cynical budget attempt to defund the NEA and NEH – those congressmen know that arts and culture positively impact the lives of people in their districts.
Through your directorships at Leslie-Lohman in New York, and Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, you’ve encountered a wide range of queer expression in the arts. Are there particular artists or works that have left a lasting impact on you? What drew you to them?
The experiences at Leslie-Lohman and FAWC were dramatically different with regard to queer expression. At FAWC, despite the fact that it is located in Provincetown, which is widely known as a gay destination, queer themes in work seldom arose. Certainly there were queer folks there and they sometimes presented that part of their lives in their work, it was never something that received that much attention. It was because of this fact that I organized an exhibition at FAWC entitled Queer Fellows – A Side Seldom Seen a few years ago. The purpose of the exhibition was to look at the work of former FAWC fellows who specifically addressed queer themes in some of their work. I included work by Ari Banias, Jarrod Beck, Geoffrey Chadsey, Erica Cho, Angela Dufresne, Elliott Hundley, Mala Iqubal, Jane Kogan, Viet Le, Jennie Livingston, Grace Sullivan, Jack Pierson, Jacolby Satterwhite and Antony Viti. Clearly, I have been drawn to the work of all of these artists, many of whom I know personally. The exhibition showed that many FAWC fellows incorporated queer themes in their work and had done so for decades.
The experience at Leslie-Lohman was much different, however. There, the entire focus was queer artists. The collection has more than 30,000 objects by close to 5,000 artists and nearly all of those are queer. During my tenure at Leslie-Lohman, I organized more than 50 exhibitions, incorporating the work of hundreds of other queer artists. I took in thousands of new pieces into the collection while I was there.
Given how many artists and pieces I came in contact with, it is difficult to select individual artists or works in any organized or scholarly fashion. I guess that I am most struck by those who are willing to take risks to express themselves and find a new way to do it. Selecting individual artists or works is difficult, as the list is long, but here are my favorites: Thomas Eakins, F. Holland Day, Romaine Brooks, Marsden Hartley, Bernice Abbott, Paul Cadmus, George Platt Lynes, Forrest Bess, Charles Henri Ford, Duncan Grant, Bernard Perlin, Touko Laaksonen, Ray Johnson, George Dureau, Duane Michals, James Bidgood, Peter Hujur, Derek Jarman, Jimmy DeSana, Harmony Hammond, Patrick Angus, David Wojnarowicz, Richard Attila Lukacs, Mark Morrisroe, Zanele Muholi, Heather Cassils and Bryson Rand.
The landscape of queer space is changing and becoming more digital, with the advent of dating apps and increasing LGBTQ themed media. Have you seen an impact on queer museums or cultural spaces? How do you think such institutions can evolve to take advantage of this change?
First, it is important to remember that there are not all that many brick-and-mortar “queer museums and cultural spaces.” Despite the abundance of queer concepts in the public arena, there have been very few new queer cultural organizations or spaces created over the past decade. As a result, a large part of the interchange for queer culture and art happens in the digital world. But for those that do exist, they seem to be thriving and programing to reach more members of the LGBTQ world. In addition, there is no question that main stream museums have chosen to show more gay themed exhibitions. Only time will tell if this is just a reflection of the moment or whether it reflects a meaningful shift in acceptance.
For queer artists and curators, there is no question that digital social media is a great way to discover and connect with other gay artists. While true that dating apps provide some insight, I see other platforms such as Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook as being successful platforms for sharing and discovering queer work. Brick and mortar organizations are most successful when their curators mine the great work from these fields. Rather than in opposition to the brick and mortar locations, the digital world provides a wonderful, if jumbled index to queer work.
The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art was founded in response to the AIDS crisis, to serve as a safe repository of LGBTQ themed art and art collected by LGBTQ individuals. How have you seen the patterns of queer collecting and display evolve on the personal and institutional levels throughout your career? What do you see coming next?
There is no question that mainstream institutions have embraced queer work in recent years. Some are doing a great job: The Whitney is working on a David Wojnarowicz exhibition. The Morgan Library is working on a Peter Hujar show, Peter Hujar: The Speed of Light. The Museum of the City of New York just did a great exhibition called Gay Gotham. MOMA has Tom of Finland’s work in its collection. However, other institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art still bury their heads in a 1950’s mentality about homosexuality. One only has to look at how the curators obfuscate the sexual orientation of John Singer Sargent or Marsden Hartley to see the intentionality behind their actions.
As far as individual collectors go, I think that the jury is still out. Many people, both gay and straight, still have a hard time collecting and exhibiting gay-themed work in their own homes. Despite the number of private collectors I know, I have to say that it is only a small percentage that openly and unabashedly display the work.
I do think that we will see this change in the decades to come however. I am heartened to see many young people not feel threated by sexually themed images – whether they are gay or straight. Many seem to be far more accepting than prior generations.
Within object culture there are objects that are intentionally queer (like the AIDS Quilt) and works that have a history of queer appropriation or affinity (like the flamboyant depictions of Saint Sebastian and their re-appropriation by Pierre et Giles), and objects that elicit or provoke an unintentionally queer experience. This diversity to queer interpretation can make it difficult for museums to effectively tag their works for queer audiences or researchers. Have you seen any museums approach this successfully? What compelling ways have you seen museums engage with queer audiences?
As in most cases, honesty is the best policy. To speak of genres in the gay themed work: AIDS, domesticity, figurative, religious icons, is simply to acknowledge the facts. These are themes that queer art makers have used for centuries. All museums have to do is acknowledge them.
The interesting this is that many museums acknowledge a heterosexual point of view of a straight artist, however, few are willing to talk about the gay part of any artists life. It is as if they don’t want to embarrass the visitor or the artist. I’m never really sure. The Whitney, Morgan Library, Tacoma Art Museum, Bronx Museum, National Gallery have all made successful attempts in recent years.
As we progress further into a political administration with a demonstrable record of hostility towards arts funding and minority groups, can you discuss ways LGBTQ artists, museums or cultural institutions may advocate for their continued funding? Are there resources that chart the economic impact of artist colonies like Provincetown, or museums like Leslie-Lohman that have provided a platform for LGBTQ artists?
Queer artists, their supporters and sympathetic institutions have to stand up for their rights and demand that gay themed work not be excluded because of its content. They have to be sure their voices are heard. We must remember what happened in the 1950s with the McCarthy-driven Lavender Scare and the Culture Wars of the late 1980s.
Gay people are an economic force – as is arts and culture. Together they have a powerful impact. Just look at how businesses turned against states which tried to enforce laws that would intentionally discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community. It was not because they thought it was right – they were worried about how it would affect their bottom line and their work force. Those dollars and cents are quantifiable and have a great impact. Look at how Republican members of Congress voted in spring 2017 against the President’s cynical budget attempt to defund the NEA and NEH – those congressmen know that arts and culture positively impact the lives of people in their districts.