Cruising

Tom Of Finland

Seth Bogart and Peggy Noland

JD Samson and Drew Denny

Liss Lafleur

Van Jazmin

Once Movement

Millie Brown

Zackary Drucker

Curated by Nathaly Charria

“Cruising” will open free to the public on Friday June 10, 2016 to kick off LA Pride Festival & Parade. The evening will consist of a preview and curator-led exhibition tour starting at 6PM followed by an 8PM screening of Zackary Drucker’s prodigious films at the City Council Chambers (located in the West Hollywood Library). Recently Drucker encountered censorship from institutions exhibiting her work and CSW is proud to share her voice uncensored as part of the 2016 LA Pride weekend. This screening will consist of “Southern For Pussy,” “Fish,” and “She Gone Rogue.” The later was commissioned by the Hammer Museum and presented at the inaugural 2012 Los Angeles Biennial, subsequently at 2014 Whitney Biennial, acquired by Smith College Museum of Art, and made possible by Luis De Jesus Gallery. The exhibition will remain on view in West Hollywood Park through Sunday, June 12th with festival admission.

Christopher Street West (CSW) is proud to announce this year’s 2016 LA Pride Festival Arts and Culture program curated by Nathaly Charria and titled “Cruising.” This year’s exhibition will feature a collection of works from renowned LGBTQ artists. While art has long been a part of the cultural experience at the LA Pride Festival, “Cruising” will infuse queer art and culture in an immersive festival environment.

“Cruising," a reference to queer meeting spaces, brings together some of Los Angeles’ most iconic, emerging, and historical LGBTQ artists. The program presents a multi-generational perspective that speaks to the diversity of what it means to be queer in 2016 and seeks to honor those who have paved the way for LGBTQ visibility in contemporary culture. With the goal of creating an inclusive, inspiring, and accessible exhibition, “Cruising” is both a nostalgic reminder of yesterday's survival tactics and a call to continue constructing profound queer ecosystems in public space and within the art world.

Throughout the weekend, interactive, large-scale works will be exhibited on the festival grounds. Tom of Finland Foundation will represent the most influential gay artist of the late twentieth century with “Tom House,” an installation that recreates the artist’s home in Los Angeles. Queer icons and collaborators Seth Bogart and Peggy Noland present a nod to the city’s gay establishments with an immersive piece that invites audiences to take the perfect selfie. Emerging local artist, Van Jazmin addresses issues of Trans Identity through sculptural works that challenge gender roles. Onch Movement will depart from his food-themed jewelry and Reality-TV stardom to present large-scale building blocks that signify a new future for LA PRIDE. Millie Brown, dubbed one of the new Young British Artists and known for her iconic performance with Lady Gaga, brings beauty makeovers and glamour shots by NYX Cosmetics within a bed of flowers inspired by her piece “Wilting Point.” Liss LaFluer presents “Queen,” a neon sculpture appropriated from a 1987 Dairy Queen sign that flashes the word “Queer.” Collaborators JD Samson and Drew Denny reconceptualize the grounds as “The Cruising Park.”

Nathaly Charria is an independent curator and art consultant specializing in large-scale public art installations. She began her career at the Biennale of Sydney while simultaneously establishing roots in Miami with Art Basel. Charria thrives on building a body of work that calls attention to those underrepresented in the traditional art world. She continues to identify and support world-class emerging artists who choose to push the boundaries of contemporary art.

Christopher Street West Association, Inc. is a non-profit organization located in the Greater Los Angeles area. Composed entirely of passionate volunteers, CSW is dedicated to human rights, education, outreach and better understanding within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, as well as the broader community. Founded in response to the Stonewall Rebellion on Christopher Street in New York on June 28, 1969, Christopher Street West conducted the first parade in the world advocating for gay rights on June 28, 1970 in Hollywood, CA. That tradition lives on today in the form of the LA Pride Music Festival and Parade, now in its 46th year, taking place in the City of West Hollywood, CA.

CSW engages with event production firm JJ|LA LLC in the production and management of the LA Pride Music Festival & Parade.