Changing difference queer politics and shifting identities : Peter Hujar, Mark Morrisroe, Jack Smith

The exhibition 'Changing Difference' and the accompanying publication aim to explore the work of three New-York based artists, image-makers and underground cultural agents: Peter Hujar (1934-1987), Mark Morrisroe (1959-1989) and Jack Smith (1932-1989) all occupying that uncertain territory lying between the visibility and the assimilation of 'difference'. Their works follow a complex parable, from the '60s right up to the end of the '80s, underlining the risks inherent in mixing art and life, as well as formal research and political struggles. Their research will accompany the spectator along an itinerary ranging from highbrow to lowbrow art, from the banal to the elegiac, from the trashy to the refined, and from life to death, moving through both the various genders (male, female and transgender) and sexual orientations (heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality), showing how they have been recounted through both underground and mainstream culture. 0Exhibition: Galleria Civica, Modena, Italy (20.10.2012-27.1.2013).