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Ira Tattelman: The Bathhouse Series All items in this exhibit are for sale as one
of a kind works. Photoconstructions contain different elements,
including black and white or color single or multiple acetate overlays, over
color or black and white photographs or digital computer prints on paper, and
white or off-white background paper. If you want more information on individual
items, please e-mail us. While there are numerous bathhouses still in operation, my photo-constructions focus on the St. Marks Baths in New York City. Built in 1913 as the St. Marks Russian and Turkish Baths, the establishment catered to businessmen in the area. As businesses began to move, the baths became popular with neighborhood residents. In the 1950s, it served older Jewish men during the day and Gay men at night. In the 1960s it became exclusively Gay, although considered unclean and uninviting. Bought and refurbished by Bruce Mailman in 1979, the baths were redesigned for Gay sexual expression in all its variety. In 1985, the bathhouse was closed by the city due to the AIDS crisis. The building, boarded up for a number of years, has been converted into a video store. The adaptability and fluidity of the space is central to my investigation. There are two views about the bathhouse. One is that the baths became an extension of homosexual repression, continuing to hide the community and suppress political and social action. The Gay male body was inscribed with sexual desire and little else. The second view, to which I subscribe, is that the opportunity to interact with others in a ritualized setting was positive; the baths created a place where it was possible to find and experience commonality. The baths served as a place for casual encounters, communication with like-minded individuals, and sensual, as well as sexual, intercourse. In this often anonymous space, patrons felt safe exhibiting a broad range of behaviors that the world outside the baths was less likely to tolerate. The practice of taking risks, of experimenting, sustained the baths. One participated in activities that offered a variety of connections, a broad association of sounds, touches, tastes and smells. The authority of desire was brought forward, and with it, the proposition of repetition and multiplicity. Everyone was here together and everyone seemed willing to participate. The structured environment of the baths formed a community that was hard to find outside the bathhouse walls. By defying conventions and respecting the established rituals of the baths, individual and communal expression was orchestrated in rich and varied ways. email Gay Art Gallery if you are interested in purchasing
SOLD
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SOLD
