Curated by Jon Davies, That Directionless Light of the Future: Rediscovering Russell FitzGerald features rarely seen works by American artist and writer Russell FitzGerald (1932-78) and his contemporaries, largely from the Bay Area, to explore how secret and subcultural knowledge complicates archiving and transmission. In doing so, the exhibition reveals how FitzGerald shines a new light on the aesthetic, sexual, racial and spiritual imaginaries of the postwar avant-garde.

This reading room offers resources relating to the themes and artists present in this exhibition.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Amor Kohli, “Saxophones and Smothered Rage: Bob Kaufman, Jazz and the Quest for Redemption,” Callaloo 25, no.1 (2002): 165–82, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3300405.

In this article, Amor Kohli examines Bob Kaufman’s use of jazz as it relates to his positionality as one of few recognized Black poets within the predominantly white Beat Movement. FitzGerald was infatuated with Kaufman. Though the Beat Movement was thought of as a counterculture movement, the group and its revered writers reconstructed dominant ideas of racial hierarchy through their problematic cultural views despite the guise of inclusivity embedded in their appropriation of jazz, or as Kohli states “Black music.” Kohli highlights the revolutionary potential of jazz when utilized by Kaufman who understood the genre as interconnected with Black history and complicated by the double consciousness faced through his participation in the movement.

 

Jon Davies, “Where Nostalgia Languishes: Josh Faught and San Francisco,” Wattis Library, https://wattis.org/browse-the-library/911/reading-lists-conversations-and-other-texts/where-nostalgia-languishes-josh-faught-and-san-francisco.

In this essay, Davies submerges himself in the history of counter-culturalism in San Francisco, specifically delving into the relationship between the city’s history and its queer community. Through an exploration of queer archival material in conjunction with the work and lived experience of fibre artist Josh Faught, Davies ties together themes such as camp, queerness, experimentation and nostalgia in the city of San Francisco that informs his research into FitzGerald’s work.

 

Kadji Amin, “Introduction,” in Disturbing Attachments: Genet, Modern Pederasty and Queer History (Durham: Duke University Press, 2017), https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822372592.

The introductory chapter to Kadji Amin’s book Disturbing Attachments proposes an alternative direction for the field of Queer Studies. He advocates for a “deidealization” that reverses scholarly tendencies to critique and dismiss deviant queer figures under the lens of contemporary ideology. By examining the morally dubious French author and activist Jean Genet, Amin provides insight into what can be gained from exploring different problematic relationships and connections held by figures like Genet to deepen explorations of queerness beyond the celebration of utopian ideals.

 

Lewis Ellingham and Kevin Killian, “Honey in the Groin,” in Poet Be Like God: Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance (Hanover: University Press of New England, 1998), 118-39.

Tracing the life of Jack Spicer, Ellingham and Killian recount the romantic connections and tensions that bring light to Spicer’s writing. This chapter focuses on Spicer’s tumultuous relationship with Russell FitzGerald, who was sexually infatuated with Black poet Bob Kaufman. Both Spicer and FitzGerald’s characters are illuminated through anecdotes of misogyny, sexual encounters, racism and racial fetishism which are embedded in their individual artistic expressions.

 

Samuel R. Delany, “Beatitudes,” in Occasional Views Vol. 1, (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2021), 225–51, https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=12305961.

Samuel R. Delany’s essay offers insight into the queer experience in New York City in the late twentieth century. Through a series of personal anecdotes, Delany describes a range of experiences and encounters with creatives, from a conversation with classical dancer Freddie Herko to connections with poets of the Beat Generation. The memoir-like text offers a glimpse into Delany’s personal life and lived history as well as the circles of artists and queer folks entangled within it.

 

“Helen Adam Sampler,” selections from A Helen Adam Reader by Charles Bernstein, Electronic Poetry Center, https://writing.upenn.edu/library/Adam-Helen_Selected.html.

Scottish poet and artist Helen Adam was a source of inspiration to many poets of the San Francisco Beats, most notably Allen Ginsberg. This website offers a sample of Adam’s oeuvre through a series of poems chosen by Charles Bernstein. The curated collection of eight ballad-like poems provides a taste of the written work of “bardic matriarch” Helen Adam.

 

Image (above):Russell FitzGerald, Fourteen Stations of a Cross: 5. Helped, c. 1957. Collection of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Gift of Dora FitzGerald, 2008.