Gerardo Velazquez

This article is about the visual artist and musician. For the actor, see Jerry Velázquez.

Gerardo Velazquez (1958–1992) was a visual artist and musician, who was notably a member of the Los Angeles-based punk group Nervous Gender. Nervous Gender was known for their confrontational and antagonistic performances that was unapologetically queer and anti-Catholic in theme.

Velazquez received his MFA at California State University in 1990.[1] After his AIDs diagnosis, Velazquez turned to activism with a series of self-published zines such as The Annals of Selective Annihilation: Interplanetary Journal for the Retention of Power Through the Elimination of a Targeted Population (1990) and The Gay Death List: The Magazine of Art and Opportunistic Investments (1990).[2]

Velazquez died in 1992 of AIDS-related complications at age 33.[3] His papers are held at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.

Posthumously, his work has been exhibited in such exhibitions as the Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2017 and the 2023-24 touring exhibition Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines that travelled to the Brooklyn Museum and the Vancouver Art Gallery.[4]

  1. ^ Liz Ohansian (16 October 2017). "EAST L.A. PUNK PIONEER GERARDO VELASQUEZ LIVES ON IN A CHINATOWN GALLERY SHOW". LA Weekly. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  2. ^ Liz Ohansian (16 October 2017). "EAST L.A. PUNK PIONEER GERARDO VELASQUEZ LIVES ON IN A CHINATOWN GALLERY SHOW". LA Weekly. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  3. ^ Matt Stromberg (11 December 2017). "The Valentine's Day Tape an Avant-Garde Musician Left Behind". Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 26 February 2024.