“Perhaps the performer most closely associated with Club 57 was John Sex (born John McLaughlin), who fashioned himself the figurehead for male burlesque downtown, and backed up his image with recurring events like John Sex Burlesque, an evening of male and female striptease with political overtones, which once included a nude Ronald and Nance Reagan dance (…). He went on from the club to become one of downtown’s leading men, performing (…) at bigger clubs like Danceteria, the Saint, and Limelight. Inspired by Liberace and backed by showgirls he groomed from the club membership. Sex developed a glitzy, Las Vegas alter ego with a two-foot-tall pompadour that flirted with androgyny”
Exh. Cat., New York, Museum of Modern Art, Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village 1978-1983, p. 19, Ron Magliozzi
John Sex met Keith, Drew Straub and Kenny Scharf at SVA in the late 1970s, becoming fast friends with the group. Sex not only became known for his explosive performances at Club 57 and other downtown venues, but for his skill at silk-screening, described by Straub as “New Wave Andy Warhol.” Sex created posters for shows his friends organized at SVA, Club 57 and elsewhere. The following works are examples of such posters, featuring Jayne Mansfield and Elvis. Like Warhol, who used silkscreen to examine celebrity, Sex particularly enjoyed these icons through a queer lens for their camp appeal.
