CSC sponsors Mark I. Chester gallery talk

The Center for Sex & Culture invites the public to a slideshow/gallery talk by Mark I. Chester Significant Folsom Street artist and CSC announce new fiscal sponsorship

(San Francisco, October 21): The Center for Sex and Culture will host an evening of history and gay fine art sexual photography on Thurs. Nov. 12th from 7:30-9:30pm at the Mark I Chester studio, 1229 Folsom St in San Francisco. The evening is free and open to adults of all genders, orientations and sexual styles. Call 415-621-6294 to make a reservation, as space is limited.

San Francisco gay radical sex photographer Mark I Chester will give a slide show talk and historical overview of his explorations in sexual portraiture. These photographs document his life in the San Francisco gay sexual underground from the late 1970s to the present. Included in the presentation will be a special focus on two bodies of work from the late 1990s, “the dream of my youth is dead but I can’t stop dreaming” and “Bad Boys on Parade – portraits on the verge of the new millennium.” Mark is working to put these two bodies of work into a book called “Marked Men.” As a special treat, 28 framed vintage black and white silver prints from “Marked Men” will be on display. This work can be previewed at http://markichester.com

Mark self-published a book of his photographs in 1996 called “Diary of a Thought Criminal,” a groundbreaking book of radical sex portraits. Now Mark seeks to publish the next chapter in this diary with images that continue to delve into the sexual psyche of gay men in San Francisco on the verge of the new millennium, from 1997-1999. The Center for Sex and Culture proudly announces that it has become the fiscal sponsor to raise funds for “Marked Men.” And because the Center for Sex and Culture is a 501c3 non-profit, all donations are tax deductible. http://www.sexandculture.org

Mark’s work has never been easily categorized (or for some people, easy to take) because it crosses the normally exclusive boundaries of fine art portraiture, social documentary work and sexually explicit art. His radical sex portraits document a sexual history and reflect the tumultuous changes that have occurred in our communities during the last 30 years. Lives that are not documented disappear into the ether over time as if they never existed.

Center for Sex & Culture founding director Dr. Carol Queen says, “I am personally enormously moved by Mark’s work; it is hot, beautifully photographed, and truly sexologically significant. Mark documents a series of historical moments, a community of sexual affiliation, and sexual identity and connection, and succeeds in showing us the diversity within all of this. His work is unique and deeply meaningful. The Center for Sex and Culture is committed to seeing that this important part of San Francisco history is documented and saved for all time.”

The Center for Sex & Culture (CSC) has been called “Best Emerging Sex Nonprofit” (the San Francisco Bay Guardian’s Best of the Bay, June 2004). It is open by appointment and for events. The Center for Sex & Culture is a nonprofit volunteer organization that subsists on donations from the public, including donations of books, art, videos, archival materials, etc. CSC’s mailing address (where donations can be sent) is 2215-R Market Street, #455, San Francisco, CA 94114. Website donations can be made at www.sexandculture.org; people can sign up for CSC’s twice-monthly email calendar at the same address.

Event in Brief:
When: Thursday, November 12, 2009
Where: Mark I. Chester’s studio at 1229 Folsom Street, San Francisco
What: Gallery show, reception, and slideshow/lecture about Mark I. Chester’s work and book project Contact: 415-621-6294 (Mark I. Chester’s studio; call to reserve space)

By News Wire