Denis Lessard

Robert Flack, Lyle Ashton Harris and Denis Lessard are three gay artists who, through the language of photographic images, clear a space for the public expression of gay male sexuality within North American culture.

*In This World*, organized by Keith Wallace at the Contemporary Art Gallery, brings the work of these three individuals together for the first time. 

"Both homosexuals and lesbians have been out of sync with the societal expectations implicit within Western systems of church/state, medical science and the mass media," says Wallace. "Indeed any examination of male sexuality in the visual arts has been noticeably absent in this world, except from within the gay male realm."

Each of the artists in *In This World* approach the issues in different ways. Denis Lessard from Montreal examines the position of being gay in relation to the various incarnations of masculinity that are circulated in the mass media. Lessard presents images he has assembled that span a number of genres—from ad icons such as the Marlboro man to entertainment personalities such as Tom Sellick and Jack Nicholson. Through his somewhat detached presentations, the artist asks us to acknowledge how these images might be received by the gay male community.

Lyle Ashton Harris, a Black gay artist from Los Angeles, turns to his friends and to himself as subject matter with which to question the dominant culture. Harris' is an exploration into the contradictory and often unexplainable aspects of the self, and the construction of gender and racial roles. The photograph becomes his stage on which to enact this exploration.

Robert Flack from Toronto pictures the male body as a vessel of energy centres. These energy centres are based upon metaphysical concepts of the chakras and meditation derived from Tantric rituals that promote the unity of body and mind. For Flack, these images metaphorically empower the body, bringing it to an exalted physical state.


Essay: "In This World," Keith Wallace

A starkly lit black and white portrait of a courching shirtless person holding a photo release trigger in their hand. They are wearing white face makeup and a wig. 

thumbnail_00-HEADER-InThisWorld.jpg

00-HEADER-InThisWorld.jpg

4 artworks in clear frames on a wall. They are a GQ magazine with a Marlboro ad, a pack of Marlboros, A Marlboro ad in a Newsweek magazine (with a cover reading: "Gay America"), and a Vanity Fair.

thumbnail_01-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

01-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

A white wall with several images and news clippings. The images include a photo of Burt Reynolds, Wham, and underwear ads.  At the centre, rectangular pieces of text are placed in an arch shape.

thumbnail_02-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

02-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

The corner of a gallery with a white and a black wall. On the white wall are 3 colourful, hazy images of nude muscular bodies. On the black wall there is white and yellow text and dozens of Polaroids.

thumbnail_03-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

03-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

Three large photos on a gallery wall. The photos are black and white and show semi-nude people in drag or costume. The photos are printed on glossy paper and pinned to the wall.

thumbnail_04-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

04-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

The corner of a gallery. One wall has 3 large black and white photos of people in drag, the other has a large composition of many small images, and 3 colourful framed images of nude, muscular people.

thumbnail_05-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

05-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

A black wall in a gallery with text and dozens of Polaroid photos. The text is composed of two different excerpts alternating, one in yellow and one in white, intertwining in a disorienting way.

thumbnail_06-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

06-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

Several images in black frames, mounted on a white wall. The images are colourful and detailed, resembling views from a kaleidoscope. The photo is at a slight angle and shows the frames diagonally. 

thumbnail_07-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

07-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

A closeup of several Polaroid photos on a black wall. Some photos are captioned and some are not. All depicts snippets of Black Queer life, including plates of food, smiles, kisses, genitals and hugs.

thumbnail_08-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

08-InThisWorld-1992.jpeg

A white wall in a gallery, showing several images in black frames, mounted that resemble views from a kaleidoscope. In the corner, small digital collages are also mounted on the wall.

Denis Lessard

Exhibitions