Piss Elegant/Some Motorcycle, 2016
If you were a gay man in 1965, the world was a lonely place. At a time when being openly gay was still a crime, finding spaces in which to meet other men was a challenge. In 1965 Bob Damron published the first in a series of yearly “address books”, which secretly listed every gay restaurant, bar, café, sex club and bathhouse in each major US city. Coded in a language that only gay men could decipher, the books helped to connect individuals and create a sense of community. Today, Bob Damron’s address books serve as a cultural archive that tells a story of the transformation of gay culture in the US, and it’s influence on our contemporary landscape.
Using the address book as a starting point "Piss Elegant / Some Motorcycle" is a phantasmagoric attempt at reconstructing Damron’s address book and the spaces it lists. Throughout the exhibition, Danny Jauregui makes the invisible visible by layering, folding, removing and ultimately revealing the presence of absent bodies and spaces. Through painting, print, sculpture and an expanded version of the address book, Jauregui reveals the erasure of queerness from the psycho-geography of Los Angeles.
Handmade artist book
20 minute animation
Human hair, yarn, and chain 42 x 24 inches
Human hair, yarn, burned out light bulbs, and chain 53 x 8 x 3 inches
Graphite on paper 18 x 24 inches
Monoprint 22 x 30 inches