Thesis (M.F.A)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Visual Arts. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR13046

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 78 p. : ill. (some col.) Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis argues that the work of the artist David McDiarmid is to be read as an enactment of late twentieth century gay male and queer politics. It will analyse how both the idea and the cultural specificity of ???America??? impacted on the work of this Australian artist resident in New York from 1979 to 1987. The thesis examines how African American music, The Beats, notions of ???hip??? and ???cool???, street art and graffiti, the underground dance club Paradise Garage, street cruising and gay male urban culture influenced the sensibility and the materiality of the artist???s work. McDiarmid???s cultural practice of dress and adornment, it is proposed, forms an essential part of his creative oeuvre and of the ???queer worldmaking??? which is the driver of his creative achievements. The thesis proposes that McDiarmid was a Proto-queer artist before the politics of queer emerged in the 1980s and that his work, including his own life-as-art practices of dress and adornment, enact a mobile rather than fixed gay male identity.

This thesis argues that the work of the artist David McDiarmid is to be read as an enactment of late twentieth century gay male and queer politics. It will analyse how both the idea and the cultural specificity of ???America??? impacted on the work of this Australian artist resident in New York from 1979 to 1987. The thesis examines how African American music, The Beats, notions of ???hip??? and ???cool???, street art and graffiti, the underground dance club Paradise Garage, street cruising and gay male urban culture influenced the sensibility and the materiality of the artist???s work. McDiarmid???s cultural practice of dress and adornment, it is proposed, forms an essential part of his creative oeuvre and of the ???queer worldmaking??? which is the driver of his creative achievements. The thesis proposes that McDiarmid was a Proto-queer artist before the politics of queer emerged in the 1980s and that his work, including his own life-as-art practices of dress and adornment, enact a mobile rather than fixed gay male identity.

This thesis argues that the work of the artist David McDiarmid is to be read as an enactment of late twentieth century gay male and queer politics. It will analyse how both the idea and the cultural specificity of ???America??? impacted on the work of this Australian artist resident in New York from 1979 to 1987. The thesis examines how African American music, The Beats, notions of ???hip??? and ???cool???, street art and graffiti, the underground dance club Paradise Garage, street cruising and gay male urban culture influenced the sensibility and the materiality of the artist???s work. McDiarmid???s cultural practice of dress and adornment, it is proposed, forms an essential part of his creative oeuvre and of the ???queer worldmaking??? which is the driver of his creative achievements. The thesis proposes that McDiarmid was a Proto-queer artist before the politics of queer emerged in the 1980s and that his work, including his own life-as-art practices of dress and adornment, enact a mobile rather than fixed gay male identity.

This thesis argues that the work of the artist David McDiarmid is to be read as an enactment of late twentieth century gay male and queer politics. It will analyse how both the idea and the cultural specificity of ???America??? impacted on the work of this Australian artist resident in New York from 1979 to 1987. The thesis examines how African American music, The Beats, notions of ???hip??? and ???cool???, street art and graffiti, the underground dance club Paradise Garage, street cruising and gay male urban culture influenced the sensibility and the materiality of the artist???s work. McDiarmid???s cultural practice of dress and adornment, it is proposed, forms an essential part of his creative oeuvre and of the ???queer worldmaking??? which is the driver of his creative achievements. The thesis proposes that McDiarmid was a Proto-queer artist before the politics of queer emerged in the 1980s and that his work, including his own life-as-art practices of dress and adornment, enact a mobile rather than fixed gay male identity.

La crise du sida n'est pas derrière nous, même si l'incendie semble éteint, les cendres elles, restent. Premièrement, parce que l'épidémie n'est nullement endiguée, mais aussi parce que nous continuons d'être hantés par les représentations, les discours, les constructions et les significations que cette pandémie transporte avec elle. Le sida est un phénomène complexe, tenter de le comprendre, c'est faire face en premier lieu à des séries de mots, d'images médiatiquement puissantes qui supplantent d'autres réalités. Pour parvenir à percer cette pandémie, il faut pouvoir en étudier tous les aspects, et parmi ces facettes, l'art a joué un rôle prépondérant dans la crise du sida, notamment parce qu'il a été particulièrement utilisé pour signifier une partie de ces autres réalités cachées. Dans ce travail de recherche, quatre axes se sont dessinés qui parcourent un large spectre des questions posées par le sida et ses représentations, autant, que les enjeux d'expositions, de médiatisation, de discursivité ou encore de significations que cette épidémie contemporaine sans précédent a mis en exergue. Le sida a révélé de nombreux problèmes dans nos sociétés occidentales, sans pour autant qu'ils soient aujourd'hui circonscrits. L'art a joué un rôle majeur dans la prise de conscience durant ces trente-cinq dernières années, en produisant des images et des contres-images. L'art a permis de contre­-représenter une réalité qui de par nos sociétés de pouvoirs nous était tue, il a donné une voix à ce qui reste toujours une épidémie silencieuse et stigmatisante. Représenter (dans) la crise du sida a donc été et est toujours un combat, si ce n'est une forme de guerre culturelle. / The AIDS crisis is not behind us, even if the fire seems to be extinguished, the ashes remain. First, because the epidemic is by no means contained, but also because we continue to be haunted by the representations, discourses, constructions and meanings that this pandemic carries with it. AIDS is a complex phenomenon, trying to understand it, is the deal first with a series of words, images that are media-intensive, which supplant other realities. To achieve to break this pandemic, we must be able to study ail aspects, among these facets, art has played a leading role in the AIDS crisis, especially because it has been particularly used to signify those other hidden realities. ln this research, four axes have emerged that cover a broad spectrum of questions posed by AIDS and its representations, as much as the stakes of exhibitions, media coverage, discursivity or meanings that this unprecedented contemporary epidemic has highlighted. AIDS revealed many problems in our Western societies, without, however, being circumscribed by now. Art has played a major role in raising awareness over the past thirty-five years by making images and counters-images. Art has allowed to counter-represent a realité which through our societies of power, was silent to us, it gave a voice to what always remains a silent and stigmatizing epidemic. Representing (in) the AIDS crisis has therefore been and still is a struggle, if not a form of cultural war.