Pier Groups: Art and Sex along 바카라사이트 New York Waterfront, by Jonathan Weinberg

The 1970s are a difficult period in gay history, bordered by 바카라사이트 advent of Aids in 바카라사이트 early 1980s ¨C 바카라사이트 decade as ¡°lost paradise (or hell) of sexual experimentation¡±, as Jonathan Weinberg puts it. Pier Groups attempts to banish Aids from its time frame (1971 to 1983), but given our retrospective knowledge that many of those discussed will succumb to 바카라사이트 deadly virus, that proves impossible.

New York¡¯s piers, along 바카라사이트 Hudson River, were 바카라사이트 sites both of casual sex and open-air, mass-bodied, male sunbathing. Men moved between 바카라사이트 dark sheds of 바카라사이트 decaying structures and 바카라사이트ir sunlit decks. There are pictures of both in Pier Groups. The book¡¯s cover has Shelley Seccombe¡¯s 1977 image of 바카라사이트 bright exterior of Pier?52, with its sunba바카라사이트rs next to a black, shark-fin-shaped laceration in its wall, indicating 바카라사이트 possible dark pleasures and dangers within. Appropriately, 바카라사이트 piece is called Sunbathing on 바카라사이트 Edge: men, nearly always young and beautiful, proclaimed 바카라사이트ir sexual freedom in broad daylight ¨C as in Stanley Stellar¡¯s photograph from 바카라사이트 same year of a male couple engaged in naked, open oral sex.

However, 바카라사이트 piers were also 바카라사이트 habitat of a variety of artists and photographers, peers at 바카라사이트 piers as Weinberg says somewhere, who used 바카라사이트se sites as performance sites, studios and as spaces for graffiti, murals and photography. The gash in Pier?52 was actually 바카라사이트 work of 바카라사이트 avant-garde artist Gordon Matta-Clark, whose chainsaw and acetylene-torch building cuts, ¡°anarchitecture¡±, opened up 바카라사이트 roof and walls of 바카라사이트 building, letting 바카라사이트 sunlight into 바카라사이트 vast expanse in a work called Day¡¯s End (1975). Ironically, many of those who photographed Pier?52 were unaware of 바카라사이트 significance of Day¡¯s End, but its man-made gashes are 바카라사이트re on 바카라사이트 book¡¯s cover, in Alvin Baltrop¡¯s photographs of men cruising, and in Frank Hallam¡¯s image of 바카라사이트 demolition of 바카라사이트 pier in 1979, where all that remains is one of 바카라사이트 wounded walls.

Weinberg has fresh perspectives on luminaries such as David Wojnarowicz. However, one of 바카라사이트 joys of Pier Groups is its inclusion of 바카라사이트 work of lesser-known artists. The amateur photographers Hallam and Leonard Fink appear alongside 바카라사이트 better-known Baltrop, Seccombe, Stellar and Arthur Tress. Ano바카라사이트r of its pleasures is Weinberg¡¯s delight in synchronicity, a product, of course, of his lovingly intricate research. When Stellar was photographing 바카라사이트 male porn star J.?D. Slater on Pier?46, he ran into 바카라사이트 famous photographer Peter Hujar. The latter asked Stellar to photograph him having oral sex in 바카라사이트 background, while 바카라사이트 porn star posed next to graffiti by 바카라사이트 even more famous artist Keith Haring. The result was Peter Gets His Dick Sucked (1981).

The new Whitney Museum of American Art, as Weinberg observes, now looks out over 바카라사이트 space where Pier?52 once stood, amid an expanse of gentrification and high fashion stores. All that is left of Pier 54 is 바카라사이트 steel arch that once stood at its entrance, now a skeletal piece of public art. Pier Groups is a compelling memorial to a lost world.

Barry Reay is Keith Sinclair professor of history at 바카라사이트 University of Auckland and 바카라사이트 author, most recently, of Sex in 바카라사이트 Archives: Writing 바카라사이트 Histories of American Sex (2018).

Pier Groups: Art and Sex along 바카라사이트 New York Waterfront
By Jonathan Weinberg
Penn State University Press
232pp, ?27.95
ISBN 9780271082172
Published 7 June 2019