The fountain : art, sex and queer pedagogy in San Francisco, 1945-1995
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- "The Fountain: Art, Sex and Queer Pedagogy in San Francisco, 1945--1995" examines the intertwining of artistic production, sexual practice and pedagogy formal and informal in San Francisco from the end of World War II to the ravages of the AIDS crisis fifty years later. Moving back and forth between the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) and the Bay Area at large, I trace the flowering of queer pedagogy that took place as artists (broadly conceived) modeled and interrogated the new social formations and sexual possibilities that were becoming available in the latter half of the 20th century through their art and their life practices. I see the octagonal tiled fountain flowing at the SFAI campus as a metaphor for all the libidinal and creative forces of San Francisco, and a model for an art history willing to grapple with the force of sexuality. As the epicenter of sexual liberation, San Francisco and its rich mythologies drew artists here with visions of freedom. Driven by my own desirous historical gaze, "The Fountain" is a promiscuous and itinerant journey into ways of living, loving and making that have valuable lessons for today. I focus on works in multiple mediums, looking at and around each image, object, text, or "scene" to argue that their art historical value lies as much in how they capture the desires and social energies that fueled their making—which are felt in their reception—as in their formal qualities. Works I examine include Minor White's The Temptation of Saint Anthony Is Mirrors (1948), Arthur Ginsberg and Video Free America's The Continuing Story of Carel and Ferd (1970--75), George Kuchar's "classroom pictures" made with his SFAI students, and Lutz Bacher's Sex with Strangers (1986). Learning from San Francisco, I show how a key yet understudied aspect of being "modern" lies in embracing the horizons of intimate life of one's time.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2022; ©2022 |
| Publication date | 2022; 2022 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Davies, Jon Andrew |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Meyer, Richard, 1966- |
| Thesis advisor | Meyer, Richard, 1966- |
| Thesis advisor | Kwon, Marci |
| Thesis advisor | Levi, Pavle |
| Thesis advisor | McGlotten, Shaka, 1975- |
| Degree committee member | Kwon, Marci |
| Degree committee member | Levi, Pavle |
| Degree committee member | McGlotten, Shaka, 1975- |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Art and Art History |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Jon Andrew Davies. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Art and Art History. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2022. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/pv441gw2428 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2022 by Jon Andrew Davies
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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