Horizontal Together: Art, Dance, and Queer Embodiment in 1960s New York - Paperback

by Paisid Aramphongphan (Author)

Horizontal together tells the story of 1960s art and queer culture in New York through the overlapping circles of Andy Warhol, underground filmmaker Jack Smith and experimental dance star Fred Herko. Taking a pioneering approach to this intersecting cultural milieu, the book uses a unique methodology that draws on queer theory, dance studies and the analysis of movement, deportment and gesture to look anew at familiar artists and artworks, but also to bring to light queer artistic figures' key cultural contributions to the 1960s New York art world. Illustrated with rarely published images and written in clear and fluid prose, Horizontal together will appeal to specialists and general readers interested in the study of modern and contemporary art, dance and queer history.

Back Jacket

Horizontal together tells a dancerly story of 1960s art and queer culture in New York through the overlapping circles of Andy Warhol, underground filmmaker Jack Smith, and experimental dance star Fred Herko. The book uses a unique methodology drawing on dance studies, queer theory, and the analysis of movement, deportment, and gestures to look anew at familiar artists and artworks while bringing to light queer artistic figures' contributions to the 1960s New York art world.

Beginning with the analysis of the artists' own bodies, the book draws out the meaning - and the political and cultural power - of the languorous, recumbent male body that is prevalent in the art of the 1960s. It then moves on to demonstrate how dance culture and history forge an underlying formative context for queer artists - Warhol through his collaboration with contemporaneous dance figures such as Herko, and Smith through his channeling of the early twentieth-century choreographer Ruth St. Denis. Building on these points of contact, the book also rethinks the history of 1960s dance, providing space for queer bodies and their new form of "virtuosity" to shine.

Amply illustrated with rarely published images, and written in clear and fluid prose, Horizontal together will appeal to specialists and interested readers alike in the study of modern and contemporary art, dance, and queer history.

Author Biography

Paisid Aramphongphan is an independent scholar. He holds a PhD in the History of Art and Architecture from Harvard University and is a winner of the Terra Foundation International Essay Prize.