Paul Cadmuss allegory of the gays (left) and the straights (right) has a giant question mark hanging in the sky between them.
  • Paul Cadmus's allegory of the gays (left) and the straights (right) has a giant question mark hanging in the sky between them.

It was censored in D.C.

It was a hit in Brooklyn.

Now, Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture comes to the West Coast. Its host is Tacoma Art Museum, where the opening celebration starts with a talk tomorrow at 2.

The show tracks the evolution from a time when gayness was hidden in plain sight to the development of gay political identity as segregated from straight experience, and of course the devastating early era of AIDS. A few pieces could not make it to the West Coast, including Keith Haring's intentionally Unfinished Painting (which made Dan Savage cry).

The uncensored Hide/Seek comes to Tacoma. Here is a rectangle of wrapped candies by the late Felix Gonzalez-Torres (who died of AIDS), and AA Bronsons billboard-sized portrait of his friend Felix, taken immediately after Felixs death, also of AIDS-related complications.
  • The Stranger
  • The uncensored Hide/Seek comes to Tacoma. Here is a rectangle of wrapped candies by the late Felix Gonzalez-Torres (who died of AIDS), and AA Bronson's billboard-sized portrait of his friend Felix, taken immediately after Felix's death, also of AIDS-related complications.