The Getty Center’s first exclusively queer exhibition opens today

A new Getty Research Institute exhibition, $3 Bill: Evidence of Queer Lives, explores the long history of LGBTQ+ people and culture in the USA, from 1900 to the present day.

Curated by Pietro Rigolo, it is the Getty Center’s first ever exclusively queer presentation, which opens today, June 10, and runs until September 28.

The exhibition brings together paintings, ephemera, photography and video to explore the existence and representation of queer people in art and media throughout the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

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It’s presented in chronological order, opening with the first half of the 20^th century, before Gay Liberation and at a time when queerness was forced to be hidden from view and underground.

Legendary LGBTQ+ artists feature, including Claude Cahun, Jean Cocteau, Elisar con Kuppfer and David Hockney, as well as images from important spaces such as the Harlem drag balls of the 1940s and 1950s.

The second half focuses on the explosion in LGBTQ+ creativity and expression from the 1970s to the present day via the likes of a clay model of the Woman’s Building in Los Angeles, as well as work from Harmony Hammond, Robert Mapplethorpe and more.

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Mary Miller, director of the Getty Research Institute, said: ​“This exhibition honours the rich legacy and vibrant creativity of queer communities.

“It traces the path from early 20^th-century pioneers who challenged norms around sexuality and gender, through the transformative activism of the gay liberation era and the profound impact of the HIV/AIDS crisis, to the broader, more inclusive understandings of identity we see today,” she continued.

Queer photographer Rick Castro, whose work features in the exhibition said: ​“I am happy to be part of the first exclusively queer presentation at the Getty Center.

“This event is significant and historic as the Getty has committed the museum to queer art presence during Pride, 2025. I applaud Getty’s commitment to the GLBTQ communities during these dark times in American politics,” he continued.

“It took all my adult life as an artist to make it to the Getty. I will proudly take my flowers.”

$3 Bill: Evidence of Queer Lives is on view at the Getty Center, Los Angeles, until September 28.

Isaac Muk is Huck’s digital editor. Follow him on Bluesky.

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