Erasure lead singer Clive Bell opens Hasting gay art exhibition on World Aids Day

Hastings, home of the saucy postcard, will be raising eyebrows once more this December with the launch of a major new art exhibition – “Think Pink” – bringing together a bevy of the UK’s leading gay artists. Opening on World Aids Day – December 1st – the show challenges near-neighbour Brighton’s seaside gay monopoly by combining art with key messages on safer sex and modern gay life.

The exhibition is sponsored by London based nightclube Trade and will be officially opened by Andy Bell – the lead singer of pop group Erasure, one of the world’s most well-known HIV-positive artists and a frequent visitor to Hastings. Think Pink will show work by seven leading gay artists, including Andrew Logan, creator of the Alternative Miss World, TradeMark - famous for his pioneering fliers for gay nightclubs Trade and Heaven, and Nigel Grimmer - curator of the gay doll museum.   The show will be running for one week at the south coast’s trendy new art spot, The Arts Forum, and half of all proceeds from the sale of artwork will be donated to Terrence Higgins Trust. But the show's message isn’t just about gay art.  The local NHS Primary Care Trust are co-sponsoring the event, which will include hard hitting sexual health statistics, messages on safer sex and talks from people living with HIV and half of all proceeds from sales of work are being donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust. The show is the brainchild of gay art entrepreneur Alastair Fairley, who started the project by sending online messages to gay artists from all over the world. Alastair said: “I realised there are hundreds of gay artists working out there and thought it might be interesting to start grouping them together. This show is the first of those experiments, but it’s good to show art can spur other ideas too”. The star-packed event is designed to make a splash on the coast and around the country: Alastair is already looking to take the challenging event on tour

Think Pink! runs from Saturday December 2nd to Friday December 8th at the arts forum gallery in Hastings. Source: www.goodgalleryguide.com

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