Queer

Derek Jarman 1942 - 1994

Summary

Blood red canvas with a heart half-painted, half-scratched into red ground. The word "QUEER" is scrawled across the heart in a thick impasto style, flecks and smudges of baby blue and white paint are visible across the graffitied text as the undercoat is exposed by the scratched marks. Derek Jarman was diagnosed as HIV+ in 1986, causing expressions of sexuality and political protest to occupy much of his expressive output. This particular work marks his own defiance in the face of social stereotyping and increasing hysteria generated by the tabloid press surrounding the AIDS crisis. It could be seen as an ironic gesture playing on the violence and unfamiliarity wrongly dealt to homosexual individuals during this period.

Display Label

Gallery text panel 20th Century People Figurative Art since the War Despite the pictorial experimentation of abstract art artists in the 20th century continued to depict people. Following the huge influence of Pablo Picasso, artists and makers reinvented the figure. This display comprises different ways of doing so, from the traditional to the more challenging. The paintings made during the Second World War portray the importance of community spirit and collective action at a time of national crisis. Later, the post-war anxieties of the nuclear age underpin the work of artists like Bacon and Freud, which stresses the individual's isolation in the world. Figuration remained a powerful means to comment on political events, and also to reinterpret the past. Other artists have looked inward to explore their feelings about personal and sexual identity. Artists and makers responded to a changing world and in turn they have contributed to that change.