Petite Mort: Recollections of a Queer Public was created by Carlos Motta and Joshua Lubin-Levy and commissioned and published by Forever & Today, Inc. in New York in 2011. It collects drawings made from memory of New York City spaces where public sexual encounters took place, along with contributions from more than sixty gay men, and was curated by Ingrid Chu and Savannah Gorton. The edition was limited to 500 copies, with proceeds benefiting Queers for Economic Justice; the e-flux announcement describes the project.

More of Jack Fritscher’s work in books by others: Autobiography of San Francisco, The Arena of Masculinity, and BRAVE: Men and Fetish.

Recollections of a Queer Public

Joshua Lubin-Levy &
Carlos Motta
Forever & Today ©2011

Drawing by Jack Fritscher

Petite Mort: Recollections of a Queer Public, edited by Joshua Lubin-Levy and Carlos Motta,
published by Forever & Today, Inc. New York, 2011, 169 pages.

This limited edition art book of five hundred copies features drawings of public places in Manhattan where the artists had public sex. It includes one pencil drawing by Jack Fritscher titled “24 Bond Street: When Mapplethorpe and I Were Lovers,” depicting the front door of Robert Mapplethorpe’s 1970s home and studio. (Pages 78 and 79)

There are two captions inside the drawing. The first reads: “Heading Upstairs to His Loft, 24 Bond Street, Mapplethorpe and I Had Sex on His Doorstep, 1978,” and is collaged with four small red hearts marking the spot. The second is an homage that reads: “Patti Smith Was Here.”