More Glitter ‐ Less Bitter  Photographs by Daniel Nicoletta
1975 – present WHEN: June 4 – July 10, 2010 Artist reception: Friday, June 4, 6 – 8 PM WHERE: Electric Works 130 8th Street San Francisco, California 94103 415 626 5496 phone 415 626 2396 fax http://www.sfelectricworks.com
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Electric Works is pleased to present More Glitter – Less Bitter, a poignant romp through Dan Nicolettaʼs vigilant documentation of San Franciscoʼs gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender communities.
 Dan Nicoletta at Castro Camera, by Denton Smith, Fall 1976 In 1975 Dan Nicoletta was hired by Harvey Milk to work in Milkʼs Castro Street camera store and there at age 19, Danʼs life path as a documentarian for that emerging scene began. Milk was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the world and he became a symbol of hope to the LGBT civil rights movement after he was assassinated in 1978.
The photographs in the exhibit will highlight significant moments along the way including still photos taken by Nicoletta on the set of Gus Van Santʼs Academy Award winning film MILK in which actor Lucas Grabeel portrayed Nicoletta.  Lucas Grabeel (as Dan Nicoletta), February 11, 2008, photo by Dan Nicoletta Through the last 38 years Nicoletta has remained a key point person for LGBT Community related research. The title of this exhibit More Glitter – Less Bitter, takes its cue from Nicolettaʼs penchant for the ebullient and theatrical in life.
In his article about Nicoletta’s 1996 retrospective in San Francisco, art critic David Bonetti wrote: “…it has been Nicoletta’s conscious choice to photograph the more, shall we say, theatrical members of a community that has been famous for putting the pizzazz in theater since the first fabulous costume was worn on that stage just East of Eden. (Who, after all, invented sequins?) … if you love flamboyance, drag queens, discos, alternative theater, pretty boys, powerful women and the in-your-face politics of Queer Nation, you’ll probably find Nicoletta’s photographs just your cup of tea… San Francisco is lucky that Nicoletta has been there with his camera recording it through all of its changes.” Interviews with Dan Nicoletta can also be scheduled directly with Dan @ 415.665-5930, cell 415.310-3072 or info@dannynicoletta.com or through Judith Selby 415-626-5496 judith@sfelectricworks.com |
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday 11- 6 Saturday 11-5 Electric Works 130 8th Street San Francisco, California 94103 415 626 5496 phone 415 626 2396 fax |
| More Glitter – Less Bitter is an official San Francisco Pride Event.http://www.sfpride.org
For downloadable press images for Daniel Nicoletta http://dannynicoletta.com/press.shtml additional press photos about Electric Works Gallery here: |
| http://www.dannynicoletta.com
 Dan Nicoletta, 2001, photo by Matthew Madrigal Dan Nicoletta is a San Francisco based photographer who began his career in 1975 as an assistant to the late Crawford Barton who was then a staff photographer for the Advocate. During that time Dan also worked in Harvey Milk’s camera store in the heart of the burgeoning lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, mecca in San Francisco’s Castro district. He was involved in several of Milk’s political campaigns including Milk’s victorious election to public office as one of the first openly gay elected officials in the world. Nicoletta has continued to document the reverberations of Milk’s legacy for over thirty four years serving as a key point person for LGBT civil rights and Milk related research. Dan’s work has been featured in numerous settings, including the Academy Award – winning film Milk by Gus Van Sant, the Academy Award-winning documentary The Times Of Harvey Milk by Rob Epstein and Richard Schmiechen, and the award-winning documentary Sex Is by Marc Huestis and Lawrence Helman. (Berlin Film Festival – Best Gay Documentary 1993). His work has also appeared in numerous periodicals and books including: Randy Shilt’s Mayor Of Castro Street, Susan Stryker and Jim Van Buskirk’s Gay By The Bay and Harold Evans’ The American Century and also the ten year anniversary catalog Out At The Library – Celebrating The James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center and the book Flight of Angels, by Adrian Brooks, about The seminal theatre group The Angels of Light, and MILK A Pictorial History of Harvey Milk which includes a section of unit photography from MILK the film. Dan’s work has been in numerous group shows and he has had featured exhibitions at Overtones Gallery (Los Angeles), and Mace Gallery, Electric Works Gallery and the lobby of Levi Strauss & Company, (San Francisco). His work has been collected by the Wallach Collection of Fine Prints and the Berg Collection at the New York Public Library, the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library and the Schwules Museum in Berlin and by many private collectors. He is a graduate of San Francisco State’s Bachelor of Arts program and was born NYC in 1954 and raised in Utica, New York. |
 PUBLICATIONS – BOOKS Camerawork – An Autobiography of the SF Bay Area – Part 1,edited by Chuck Mobley (2010)
MILK A Pictoral History of Harvey Milk – Texts by Armistead Maupin & Dustin Lance Black (2009)
Flights of Angels, my life with the Angels of Light – by Adrian Brooks (2008) Out at the Library – Celebrating the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center (2005) The Fabulous Sylvester - by Joshua Gamson (2005) Midnight At The Palace – My life as a fabulous Cockette – by Pam Tent (2004) Tracking Choreography in the Age of AIDS - by David Gere (2004) The Beat Generation – A Gale Critical Companion (2003) Forging Gay Identities - by Elizabeth Armstrong (2002) American Century - by Harold Evans (1999) Long Road to Freedom – History of the Gay & Lesbian Movement by Mark Thompson (1994) Uncommon Heroes - edited by Phillip Sherman (1994) REsearch – Modern Primitives - edited by V. Vale and Andrea Juno (1989) San Francisco Observed - edited by Ruth Silverman (1986) The Mayor of Castro Street – The Life and Times of Harvey Milk by Randy Shilts (1981) And also work published in books by ruth weiss, Strange de Jim, Bruce la Bruce, etc. PUBLICATIONS – MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS
N. Y. Times, New York Daily News, Village Voice, L. A. Times , S. F. Chronicle, S. F. Examiner, S. F. Bay Guardian, Bay Area Reporter, S. F. Bay Times, The Advocate, Instinct, Out, Windy City Times, X-tra West (Canada), Drama Logue, Theatre Communications, Dragazine, Müncher Merker, Germany, The Guardian, UK, Akademikern, Sweden |
RELATED LINKS:
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