SAN FRANCISCO—The Center for Sex & Culture is presenting two events in September: The gallery opening of the art of Jan Saudek and an Open House and Clothes Check forFolsom Street Fair Day.
Jan Saudek’s Erotic World of Fantasies and Dreams is an exhibition of 17 photographs by renowned Czech photographer Jan Saudek, together with examples of calligraphied correspondence between Saudek and Good Vibrations founder Joani Blank. Curated by David Steinberg. Center for Sex and Culture, 1349 Mission St., San Francisco, Sept. 15 through Oct. 8. An opening reception is set for 7-10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15.
Eros, desire, sex, dreams, flesh, death, birth, innocence, revelation , mystery, discovery, temptation, power, transformation. These are some of the subjects addressed by the imaginative imagery of Czech photographer Jan Saudek, whose work has become increasingly popular in both Europe and the United States since the liberalization that followed the Czech revolution of 1968.
In the spring of 1992, Joani Blank, founder of Good Vibrations, visited Saudek in Prague and returned with a collection of stunning colorized photographs purchased directly from him. The photographs became cherished works that decorated Blank’s home continuously from 1993 until her death in August 2016.
One of Blank’s parting wishes was for her Saudeks to be seen by as many people as possible, and the Center for Sex and Culture is delighted to host this exhibition of her complete collection of Saudek prints, with additional Saudek images from the collections of Carol Queen, Tom Hammel and David Steinberg.
The 17 colorized photographic images are supplemented by samples of elaborately calligraphied correspondence from Saudek to Blank, reflecting their long friendship and mutual admiration.
Saudek’s unique, sometimes surreal, photography is a proclamation that the world of Eros is neither rational, nor simple, nor tidy—rather an unwieldy force that twists and turns, laughs and cries, turns us inside out in ways that are wonderful and horrible, exciting and painful, sexy and bizarre, all at once.
The erotic river, Saudek reminds us, runs through everything—fantasies and dreams of the beautiful and the grotesque, of tenderness and violence, of innocence and experience, of the known and the unknown, of the knowable and the unknowable. His imagery invites us into a world of erotic mystery and complexity, the antithesis of rationality and predictability. Here, Saudek says, is where real life is to be found.
“Yes—it's a theater. We are viewers and actors at the same time, and it's a funny and sordid performance!” said Jan Saudek.
Additionally, there is the CSC Folsom Street Fair Open House, Clothes Check & Chill Space, slated for 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 24, at 1349 Mission at Grace Alley (between 9th & 10th streets).
Folsom Day is great fun for kinksters, exhibitionists, and newbies alike. But where to leave your street clothes when you hit Folsom Street in all your fetish-y finery? Or, y’know, mostly naked! How about your precious toys, which you plan to use at a Fair afterparty? Come to CSC for a secure clothes/toy check, so you don’t have to leave them behind a dumpster!
Admission is $10 and gives access to a secure clothes check service (first bag is free, $5 each for additional bags), beverages, and an air-conditioned room. The Center for Sex & Culture is just a block and a half from the closest FSF entrances at Howard street at 9th and 10th streets.
For more, visit SexAndCulture.org.
