Miami artists Pioneer Winter and Jared Sharon's upcoming performance contains partial nudity -- but which part? To find out you have to visit the Bass Museum of Art for 42: A Stonewall Prospective tomorrow. Winter and Sharon looked to the historical Stonewall riots as a focus for 42. "We'll be touching on motifs of struggle and censorship, sexual deviance, non-conformity, and hope," Winter adds.
And in case the arts and social causes aren't enough to bring you out, there's also an open bar sponsored by 42Below vodka to complement the contemporary dance, film, and visual art of 42. The performance will be presented inside the Sol M. Taplin Gallery on the first floor of the Bass alongside paintings from the museum's permanent collection.
On June 28, 1969, police raided a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich
Village called the Stonewall Inn, aiming to complete what then would
have been a routine round-up. In the bar and on the streets, crowds
fought back and resisted arrest, fueling the Stonewall riots that
sparked a turning point in the history of gay culture: the mindset of
many gays and lesbians thus turned away from oppression and toward
freedom of expression.
"The 42 performance has been created by artists who were not around
(some of them were even unaware of the uprising when we began
rehearsing) for the riots of 1969 that sparked the formation of modern
gay civil rights," Winter remarks. The work honors the efforts of
activists who broke the ground from which Winter and Sharon can create
their art.
Researching Stonewall proved educational for the entire cast. While
Winter hopes the audience will come away with heightened awareness of
social issues, he writes by email, "We aren't looking to teach -- only
hint at topics that might need a little further scrutiny."
While Winter works in dance and performance and Sharon specializes in
sculpture and design, the life partners and artistic collaborators both
hold university degrees in the sciences and draw from numerous sources
for inspiration. Sharon's large-scale props include an ornate bathroom
stall (the scene of a tap dance) and a melting bed (also danced upon).
The sculptor helped shape 42 as a work centering on Stonewall among
numerous "key aspects of the grind that has been gay ascension," Winter
writes.
Pioneer Winter's "42: A Stonewall Prospective" takes place June 28 at 8
p.m. at the Bass Museum of Art, 2100 Collins Ave., Miami Beach.
Admission is free. RSVP available to ensure entry. Call 786-925-8292 or
email [email protected]
-- Emily Hite, artburstmiami.com
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