London Art Gallery declares “London Loves Dick”

London Love Dick
London Love Dick

London Art Gallery declares “London Loves Dick”

By Steve Dales

A new show “London Loves Dick” at the Velorose Gallery in London throughout July considers censorship, the Bear community and sex under lockdown. 

The first London show for LOVED artists Charlie Hunter and Mike Wyeld in two years, Vice TV said of their international touring exhibition, “Loved puts Bear Culture under the most intense microscope.”  

After NBC TV in New York ran a feature on LOVED, the team were invited to take their show to Provincetown USA this summer, but COVID had other plans, so they had to postpone that to 2021. Back at home working with curator David Rosenberg of the prestigious Velorose Gallery, whose design-conscious space has become a fixture of the Barbican neighbourhood over the last few years says, “The subjects of LOVED have taken over the gallery, stepping out from our hidden closets to reveal that LONDON LOVES DICK…”

Social distanced show

This socially distanced show invites attendees in small numbers, obeying all advice provided by the local authority and government.

 Charlie says, “As we developed London Loves Dick, we weren’t sure we could have more than a few people in the show at a time because of the Covid restrictions, so we have carefully chosen these images to be representative of the larger show. It’s like taking a detail from a larger painting.”

London Love DickLondon Love Dick

Mike continues, “Using the unique design of the Velorose Gallery, the images unfold to reveal their secrets. In theory the show is also visible from the street, just in case there are further lockdown restrictions. The audio this time considers the problems of being alone and how people cope with that.”

Charlie jumps in, “LOVED reflects on how for some of our community isolation didn’t start with lockdown, for others it has been reminiscent of awkward teenage bedrooms alone.”

What’s the show like?

Prepare to hear Bears from all walks of life, from the world over including cubs, chasers, trans bears and the bear adjacent speak about what’s hawt and what’s more challenging about the Bear scene. You’ll see the subjects naked, revealed behind panels, adjacent to one another. The show doesn’t shy away from sharing the realities of how trans people and people of colour have accessed Bear spaces and events.  

“We further considered how people who are still self-isolating during lockdown could be involved, so thinking about the Fluxus Mail Art movement, we are asking people to send postcards on the themes of the show,” explains Rosenberg. 

LOVED are inviting contributions from anyone on a postcard sized work for this show on the themes of being Queer in Lockdown and the theme “London Loves Dick.” Postcards become part of the show and cannot be returned. You can send your contributions to Velorose, 1b Charterhouse Square, London, EC1M 6EE (UK). This is also the location of LOVED: London Loves Dick.

Expose yourselves to just how much London Loves Dick, you can prebook from www.loved.gallery or from http://www.velorose.com/ .

 

London Love Dick

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