Exhibition Extension: The Sodomite Invasion: Experimentation, Politics and Sexuality in the work of Jimmy DeSana and Marlon T. Riggs

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Marlon T. Riggs, “Tongues Untied,” 1989

film still (courtesy of Signifyin' Works and Frameline Distribution)

Griffin Art Projects is extending the current exhibition period until August 29th. We are open Saturdays from 12 – 5 pm.

Griffin Art Projects presents a double solo show, curated by Lorenzo Fusi, pairing the work of two American artists: the fine art photographer Jimmy DeSana, a radical spirit and highly influential voice in the field of photography based in New York City, and the experimental film-maker and documentarist Marlon T. Riggs, a vocal activist in the fight against HIV/AIDS, whose filmic work primarily explores race relations and sexuality. The title of the show is borrowed from “The Sodomite Invasion Review,” a short-lived Vancouver based magazine published between 1991 and 1992 in response to the conservative opposition to the Third Gay Games and Cultural Festival hosted in Vancouver in 1990.

This exhibition project continues the mandate of Griffin Art Projects’ focus on collecting, examining in this case, what it means to be the steward of an artist’s archive and legacy. The exhibition has been organized in collaboration with photographer Laurie Simmons (Jimmy DeSana) and documentary filmmaker Vivianne Kleiman (Marlon T. Riggs), close friends of the artists who now oversee the artists’ archives and legacies.

Marlon T. Riggs (1957-1994) was a Black gay writer, filmmaker, educator and social activist. Riggs graduated with honors from Harvard University in 1978 and from the University of California, Berkeley, with a master’s degree in journalism in 1981. Throughout his career Riggs produced, wrote and directed several innovative and provocative documentary films that examine Black identity and the role of African Americans in the United States, including titles such as “Ethnic Notions,” “Tongues Untied,” and “Color Adjustment.” Riggs did not live to see the completion of his final film, “Black Is… Black Ain’t.” He died on April 5, 1994 of an AIDS-related illness. Riggs’ exhibition is complemented by a series of photographic portraits by American artist Lyle Ashton Harris, who collaborated with the filmmaker prior to his death.

Jimmy DeSana (1949-1990) was an American artist who came of age in the 1970s in New York City, alongside fellow artist-photographers Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin and Laurie Simmons. With over a dozen solo exhibitions during his lifetime, DeSana’s monograph, “Submission” (Scat Publications, 1979), is considered an essential photographic publication of the era. Throughout his career, DeSana’s work was featured in over fifty group exhibitions including the seminal 1981 P.S1 exhibition “New York/New Wave.” DeSana died in 1990 from an AIDS-related illness. His work continues to be exhibited and acclaimed nationally and internationally.