This Fall, the James Hormel Center invites you to enjoy a free exhibit exploring the poetic world of gay Bay Area poet and avant-garde film maker James Broughton at the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library.
From his involvement with the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance in the 1940s through to his gay love inspired poems of the 1990s, James Broughton’s vision and voice was unique and slyly alluring. Fusing whimsy, paradox and an exhilarating use of the English language, James created masterpieces of poetics. His life’s work was an attempt to discover the contradictory nature of his humanity and its roots; the result was an artistic life that inspired many.
Along the way he partnered with lover Kermit Sheets to found The Centaur Press, pioneered poetic avant-garde filmmaking, and worked with Bay Area gay publisher Manroot Press. For the last 25 years of his life he and his soul mate, the artist Joel Singer, operated the Syzygy Press and published many innovative chapbooks. All these aspects of James life and work are looked at in this exhibition along with a generous helping of his poetry.
Discover his many critically acclaimed books available in the Library’s public collection and through James Broughton’s Amazon.com page.
The new award-winning documentary Big Joy: the Adventures of James Broughton is now screening at film festivals around the world.
WHAT: “Hymns to Hermes” ~ An Exhibition
WHEN: October 13 to January 16, 20145
WHERE: James C. Hormel Center at the SF Public Library
Third Floor, Main Branch, 100 Larkin St, Civic Center San Francisco