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Personal Legend, Urban Myth, Gay Exhibition Gala Artist Reception for Fairy Tales on Saturday, June 13 To celebrate Gay Pride 2009, Casa Frela Gallery presents the group installation Fairy Tales: Personal Legend, Urban Myth, Gay Exhibition. Fairy Tales features drawings, paintings and sculpture by six gay artists: Brian H. Crede, Anthony Gonzales, Joel Handorff, Seth Ruggles Hiler, Tai Lin and Branden Charles Wallace. The exhibition opens on Saturday, June 13, 2009 and runs through July 13th, 2009. Casa Frela will host a gala artist opening reception on Saturday, June 13, 2009 from 4PM to 7PM.

Personal Legend, Urban Myth, Gay Exhibition

Gala Artist Reception for Fairy Tales on Saturday, June 13

To celebrate Gay Pride 2009, Casa Frela Gallery presents the group installation Fairy Tales: Personal Legend, Urban Myth, Gay Exhibition. Fairy Tales features drawings, paintings and sculpture by six gay artists: Brian H. Crede, Anthony Gonzales, Joel Handorff, Seth Ruggles Hiler, Tai Lin and Branden Charles Wallace.

The exhibition opens on Saturday, June 13, 2009 and runs through July 13th, 2009. Casa Frela will host a gala artist opening reception on Saturday, June 13, 2009 from 4PM to 7PM.

Fairy Tales is an exhibition that displays the essential spirit of each artist and tells individual narrative stories through the visual arts. The artworks recognize, illuminate and celebrate our gay culture. Six artists take on a breathtaking range of subject matter: coping with HIV/AIDS, remembering a favorite childhood comic super hero with added erotic sexual prowess, discovering one's personal sexual identity, recording connections to other men through portraiture, escaping from reality through art, and understanding masculinity in our current society.

The artists' stories describe the soul as an expressive and inviolable self that creates moments of insight through art and being. "Each moment is unique, unspoiled, unrepeatable and can be appreciated in its surprisingness." - Gail Sheehy

Brian Crede is a gay artist living in New York City who has always had a fascination with paper and three-dimensional art. Crede graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor of Science in industrial design. During his academic training at Kent State, he explored graphic design, enameling, glass blowing, photography, and airbrush. In 1978, Brian established his own graphic design studio which he successfully operated until he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1998. The stress of running a business along with the unpredictable nature of the disease lead him to "retire", giving him the opportunity to turn his attention back to art. The majority of Crede's artwork consists of cut and layered paper, a style he derived from hands-on experience with airbrush. Brian's most recent works are 'wire illustrations' - loosely derived from cloisonné enamel work. These new works straddle a line between illustration and sculpture. Using brass wire rather than pencil to draw, the wire is raised above the background on a chrome frame. This allows Crede the freedom to manipulate the figure creating a feeling of space and grandeur.

On a hot and humid night in Manhattan's Soho district, one can hear a symphony of scratching sounds emanating from a grungy basement space. Anthony Gonzales sits with fellow Queer Men's Erotic Art Workshop artists sketching a model who is wearing only combat boots and camouflage briefs that are pulled down and stretched between the knees. Anthony deftly captures the intangible allure oozing from every pore of his subject's taut and twitching body. He adds a few scruffy belly hairs trailing down to the navel, rendering his subject as almost dangerously masculine. Gonzales's drawings are more than just visual works of art; they are passion plays with a compelling cast of characters set against the backdrop of New York City's ethnically diverse neighborhoods. Gonzales grew up on the Caribbean island of Trinidad in an economically strapped, singe-parent household. Paper, pens, and pencils were almost prohibitively expensive, but were lovingly supplied to him by his mother. Gonzales began drawing by copying images of his favorite comic book hero, Conan the Barbarian. He would draw his super hero with added erotic sexual prowess-accentuated mounds of muscles and battle-axe-sized hard-on that was ready to engage in warfare with any offending foe. After completing each meticulously rendered drawing, he would then carefully shred his masterpiece into tiny secret bits that were cleverly camouflaged amongst the rest of the trash. As an adult, Gonzales's erotic and creative fire was rekindled with his move to New York. He has sharpened his storytelling skills and refined his character portrayals. These complex psychological studies populate a whimsical, yet detailed visual landscape. Meticulously drawn, his subjects possess an assured iconic power juxtaposed with a childlike playfulness.

Seth Ruggles Hiler's portraits are part of a larger body of work called "Twenty-Something", an ongoing series made up of drawings and paintings of men in their twenties. Hiler chooses his subjects from the people who contribute to his own history, whether they be family, friends or past lovers. As a gay man in his twenties, Hiler is most attracted and inspired by the male figure, creating and recording connections to other men through portraiture. He is intrigued by the challenge of translating the young masculine face from life or digital photography to paper and canvas. His artwork combines a drive for expression with a knowledge gained from academic training. The result is a classical sensibility joined with a contemporary understanding of color and composition. His canvases are illuminated with dynamic marks of tone and pigment, recording his view of person or place. Yet each painting goes beyond creating likeness or surface description to expressing a momentary relationship to his subject, confirmed by a collection of past experiences. Ultimately, the main goal of viewing the work is to share that intimate exchange.

Joel Handorff is an artist living in New York who happens to be gay. Joel's participation in Fairy Tales delineates a life long search for a clear identity. Yet Handorff finds it a relief to bring his identity confusion to a public forum. His confusion was intensified by the narrow gender roles of the 1950s. Handorff's sculpture "Queen Of The Prom" brings out the confusion of that period and shows the vast changes that have occurred in the last half century. He has experienced many life changes: marriage, being a parent, a teacher, a political advocate and now a full-time artist. Over time he has not been just one thing, but many-including a man attracted to other men. Over time he assembled drawings of nude men taken from many sources. These images have been turned into more substantial pieces and Handorff learned what is important for him sexually by exploring such male nudity. He found that desire is a combination of fantasy and real experience. While being gay is not a choice for Handorff, his sexuality is not fixed into a label.

Tai Lin's artworks are mysterious and moody, leaving the viewer space to think and feel. Tai Lin started to draw as a small child. A shy, quiet kid, his art was an escape from reality. He made his first homoerotic drawing as a teenager in Taiwan. Tai hid it very well so no one could see it, but unfortunately his aunt found it. This caused intense shame. He was too young to understand and accept himself as gay, but he knew he liked men even though it was TABOO. There were few resources and places to find other gay men, let alone someone to guide him. Tai Lin didn't go to art school until he came to America. He doesn't have two pages of degrees in art, but he has taken formal art classes at National Academy School of Fine arts, and at the Art Student League. The elusive and complex quality of his art probably has something to do with his journey. Tai prefers the subtle quality of his artwork over "j**k off material." He thinks DVDs and other magazines can do better. www.tailin.webs.com

Branden Charles Wallace combines his drive for expression through art with the knowledge gained from physical training. Branden's work is pushes one understand the construction of masculinity in our current society. He uses images of loss and redemption to illustrate aspects of masculine role models. Atticus Finch, his ideal masculine figure, was a whole person because of his understanding of loss in his life. Wallace tries to capture this aspect of loss and redemption in his search for an understanding of masculinity.

Please join Casa Frela for a gala artist opening reception on Saturday, June 13, 2009 from 4PM to 7PM, kicking off the Fairy Tales: Personal Legend, Urban Myth, Gay Exhibition, which runs to Monday, July 13th, 2009. Casa Frela Gallery is located at 47 West 119th Street (between Lenox Avenue and Fifth Avenue) in Manhattan, New York.

Lawrence Rodriguez, owner of the Casa Frela Gallery and curator of the Fairy Tales exhibition, invites you to participate in this rare, powerful and moving exhibit that presents the visions and stories of gay artists.