This is not a closing reception…It’s a REAR OPENING: A Performance Tribute to the Gutter-Art of Stephen Varble featured a cadre of performing artists who uniquely defy the status quo to deliver an appropriately inappropriate tribute to the genderqueer provocateur Stephen Varble. Thanks to Greg Day’s photographs and David J. Getsy’s research and curation, Stephen Varble’s legacy of disruption for the sake of art and creatively recycled street-trash couture lives on to inspire future generations.

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Performers include: Interdisciplinary artist in search of more discipline, Jason Jenn conjures up a spirited homage as the ferociously festooned MC (Mistress unCeremonious). Yozmit, the internationally celebrated visual artist, avant-garde party artist, and singer/songwriter will enthrall with some of her latest original songs. Enrique Jesus Hernandez, the Latinx performance rock artist and domestic abuse activist will deliver an expressive musical tribute.

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There will be a few more surreptitious surprises to will rock the gallery. Expect the unexpected, expect trashy looks to look good, expect bad taste to be in good taste, expect to be amused—just don’t expect too much. Gutter couture is encouraged.

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“We are all in the Gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar Wilde

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Rear Opening: A Performance Tribute to the Gutter Art of Stephen Varble is organized by the ONE Archives Foundation, Inc. and sponsored by the California LGBT Arts Alliance. Thank you to Visual AIDS for promoting this event and the work of Stephen Varble, Greg Day and other participating artists. The Gutter Art of Stephen Varble: Genderqueer Performance Art in the 1970s, photographs by Greg Day is organized by the ONE Archives Foundation, Inc.

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Event photos by Vojislav Radovanović

Historic photos of Stephen Varble by Greg Day