As part of the One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival and WeHo@30, the City of West Hollywood hosts a trio of exhibits on the impact of AIDS on art. Art AIDS America and Tongues Untied are hosted at three neighboring venues within easy walking distance of one another. Dancers We Lost  is hosted on outdoor street banners.

Art AIDS America

Art AIDS America examines 30 years of artistic production made in response to the AIDS epidemic in the United States. Surveying the early 1980s to the present, this exhibition reintroduces and explores a spectrum of artistic responses to HIV/AIDS from the politically outspoken to the quietly mournful, considering how the disease shifted the development of American art away from the conceptual foundations of postmodernism and toward a more insistently political and autobiographical voice.

Presented in two parts by the City of West Hollywood (at the West Hollywood Library) and ONE Gallery as part of One City One Pride, this iteration of the exhibition comprises a select preview of the larger show opening at the Tacoma Art Museum in October 2015. 

At the West Hollywood Library, explore a wide range of creative expressions from the early years of AIDS to the present. Highlights include a 1985 portrait of Ken Meeks by Alon Reininger, printed in Life Magazine, and 2014 self-portraits created by Kia Labeija (who was born with HIV), as well as art by Brian Buczak, Annie Leibovitz, the collectives General Idea and fierce pussy, and others. ONE focuses on California artists, from recent work by Tino Rodriguez and Ann P. Meredith to 1986 photographs by Catherine Opie that have never before been on view.

Locations & Hours

Please be aware that hours for the ONE Gallery and the West Hollywood Library differ and visitors wishing to see both parts of the exhibition should plan accordingly. Overlapping hours include Thursdays from 4-7 pm, and Friday/Saturday from 1-5 pm. Three hours of free validated parking is available in the Library Parking Structure located on El Tovar Place (validations available at the West Hollywood Library) during regular Library operating hours.  

West Hollywood Library - on display through August 27
625 North San Vicente Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Monday-Thursday: 11am-7pm
Friday and Saturday: 10am-6pm
Closed Sundays, holidays, and June 12-14 (for LA Pride weekend)

Free admission. Call (310) 652-5340 to verify hours.

Past Events:

• On June 5, 2015 the City of West Hollywood, the West Hollywood Library, the ONE Archives Gallery & Museum, and MOCA-PDC co-hosted an opening reception of WeHo@30: Art AIDS WeHo as part One City One Pride with support from Visit West Hollywood and the Liberty Hill Foundation. Photos of the exhibit and reception are available here.
• On June 6, 2015, exhibition co-curator Jonathan D. Katz and exhibition artists Rudy Lemcke, Ann Meredith, and Joey Terrill spoke about the thesis of the exhibition at the West Hollywood City Council Chambers with moderator Tina Takemoto. Photos available here.
• On July 18, 2015 Jonathan D. Katz PhD. lead a tour of Art AIDS America from 1:00 - 2:30 pm at the West Hollywood Library and from 2:45 - 3:30 p.m. at ONE Archives Gallery & Museum.
• On July 19, 2015 Jonathan D. Katz, PhD moderated presentations by Sean Milan of REACH LA Studios, Miguel Garcia of Brown & Out Latino/a Festival, Karen Anzoategui, Joey Terrill and Glenne McElhinney of “Dancers We Lost.” at the LA LGBT Center.
• Tuesdays, 7/21/15 – 8/11/15 at 7:30 PM

  Celebration Theatre: “Art AIDS WeHo”

  Celebration Theatre presented staged readings of a series of three plays in relation to “Art AIDS WeHo.”

  7/21. “Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love” by Brad Fraser.

  7/28. “A Language of Their Own” by Chey Yew. (Cancelled)

  8/4. “Baltimore Waltz” by Paula Vogel.

  8/11. An evening of monologues written by Michael Kearns along with the presentation of the Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award for achievements in LGBTQ Playwriting. 

  Free admission, donations welcomed. More info at www.facebook.com/celebrationthtr

  West Hollywood City Council Chambers, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

  Free validated parking will be provided for the 5-story Public/Park Parking Structure on El Tovar Pl.

The presentation of the preview exhibition Art AIDS America is supported by the City of West Hollywood and The David Geffen Foundation. 

_{Art AIDS America is organized by Tacoma Art Museum in partnership with The Bronx Museum of the Arts, and co-curated by Dr. Jonathan D. Katz, Director, Visual Studies Doctoral Program at the University at Buffalo (The State University of New York), and Rock Hushka, Chief Curator at Tacoma Art Museum. Generous support provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, and Gilead Sciences, Inc.}

_{Image Credits (l to r):}

_{Tino Rodriguez, Born Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico, 1965, Eternal Lovers, 2010. Oil on wood, 18 × 24 inches. Private collection.}

_{Thomas Haukaas, Born San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1950, Tribal Affiliation: Sicangu Lakota, More Time Expected, 2002. Handmade ink and pencil on antique ledger paper, 16 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches. Tacoma Art Museum, Gift of Greg Kucera and Larry Yocom in honor of Rock Hushka, 2008.10.}

_{Bill Jacobson, Born Norwich, Connecticut, 1955, Interim Portrait #373, 1992, Chromogenic color print, 24 x 20 inches. Courtesy of the artist}

_{fierce pussy, Formed New York, New York, 1991, For the Record, 2013. Two offset prints on newsprint. Two panels, installed: 22 5/8 x 70 inches. Courtesy of the artists.}

_{Kia Labeija, Born New York, New York, 1990, 24, 2014. Inkjet print. Courtesy of the artist.}

Dancers We Lost

is a commemorative public street banner and online history project which will be on view throughout West Hollywood featuring images of dancers lost to AIDS and other causes.
This project is organized by historian Glenne McElhinney of Impact Stories and director of the documentary 'On These Shoulders We Stand". More info at www.dancerswelost.org. (Summer 2015).

Past Events:

• On June 6th, 2015, historian Glenne McElhinney gave a presentation on "Dancers We Lost" at the West Hollywood Council Chambers as part of One City One Pride's Day of Art and History.
• On July 19, 2015, historian Glenne McElhinney gave a presentation on "Dancers We Lost" at a day of celebration of Artists We Lost at the LA LGBT Center.

Tongues Untied

presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, (MOCA) at their Pacific Design Center location is an exhibition titled after the landmark film by poet, activist, and artist Marlon Riggs. The exhibition, organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Curatorial Assistant Rebecca Matalon, presents a selection of works from the museum’s permanent collection by John Boskovich, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and others, alongside Riggs’s deeply personal and lyrical exploration of black gay identity in the United States.

Tongues Untied is on view at MOCA PDC (8687 Melrose Ave) until Sunday, September 13, 2015. Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 11 am – 5 pm; Saturday – Sunday 11 am – 6pm; closed Mondays. Free admission. www.moca.org

Past Events:

• On June 6th, 2015, , MOCA screened Marlon Riggs' "Tongues Untied" and "Anthem" at the West Hollywood Council Chambers as part of One City One Pride's Day of Art and History.
• Sunday, 7/26/2015, 3:00 PM
  
  MOCA Walkthrough: Tongues Untied
  Exhibition organizer Rebecca Matalon conducted a walkthrough of “Tongues Untied” and highlighted MOCA’s history of AIDS- and queer-related programming. Free admission. RSVP at www.moca.org
  
  MOCA PDC, 8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, CA 90069