Twenty-five years ago artist Keith Haring donated his image of a person dancing out of a closet for the first National Coming Out Day (October 11, 1988). Now the organization behind the day, the Human Rights Campaign, has asked big name artist Ryan McGinness to create a “new artwork” symbolizing the day. The problem with the result is that it’s not art, it’s a logo. That’s a different thing. Take a look for yourself: his three final images are online for people so people can vote in the winning look–which will be printed on t-shirts for the big day. P.S. You have to be a Facebook fan of McGinness in order to vote. P.S.S. McGinness isn’t gay. (The choice is understandable, of course, because gays are clearly underrepresented in the arts!)
It’s a big PR blitz of a week for McGinness: his exhibition “Finding Infinity” (sculptures, prints, and paintings) opens this week at Bridgette Mayer Gallery in Philadelphia, where he has also created a monumental mural on the side of the University City Science Center, organized by the city’s Mural Arts Program. So in a sense he’s coming out…
New “artwork” created by Ryan McGinness to symbolize National Coming Out Day
