Andy Warhol’s Eyes on the Guise

by None

Given the huge advances made by the LGBT movement of late, many in its ranks view the Gay Pride parade — held late June every year since the 70s — as, to put it gently, a little passé. Sweaty wigs, pierced nipples and assless chaps all bumping and grinding to throbbing techno on slow-moving, shaky floats are a funny sight to see, but the real front has moved elsewhere long ago, to courthouses, legislatures and movie sets across the land.

Still, June is Pride Month, and that means a lot of gay-related cultural events that might otherwise not get much attention suddenly pop up. One of those is a Christie’s sale of works by Andy Warhol, the artist everyone thinks they know, but don’t really. Open to the public, Eyes on the Guise is an auction of Warhol drawings and photos on the theme of the gay male gaze — Warhol’s gaze — that may make one blush.

Held in conjunction with the Andy Warhol Foundation to mark Pride Month, and prefaced with an age warning, the collection ranges from innocent nude portraits of young men in Warhol’s orbit to images that can essentially be described as porn. Warhol wouldn’t have minded the descriptor; he deliberately pushed the subject(s) of his lens, his pencil, or his gaze into a dirty, pervy zone as often as he could — even if, or especially because, consensual homosexual acts were illegal for most of his life. Several later lots include scenes of Gay Pride parades and Fire Island parties, as well as portraits of Keith Haring, Truman Capote, and the artist in drag.

Visit Eyes on the Guise

Self-Portrait of Andy Warhol in Drag