The Eighth Square: Gender, Life and Desire in Art Since 1960

In chess, when a pawn reaches the eighth square on the far side of the board, the player can swap it for a piece from his opponent's set. So the pawn--a lowly foot soldier--can transform into a queen, the least powerful figure can transform into the epitome of power, and a man can become a woman--just like that. Issues of sexuality are playing out around us all the time, quaking and transmuting under the surface of every family exchange and embedded in all of our popular media images. This scholarly and yet still erotic compendium examines, through works by more than 70 artists, historical and social developments in human sexuality, taking on all facets of drag, gender, queerness and transsexuality. Artists include Diane Arbus, Francis Bacon, Matthew Barney, Louise Bourgeois, Nan Goldin, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Robert Mapplethorpe, Tracey Moffatt, Bruce Nauman, Robert Rauschenberg and Cindy Sherman.