Happy to be Gay
- Artist: Martin Kippenberger
- Date: 1993
- Medium: Screenprint on paper
- Dimensions: image: 838 x 591 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Happy to be Gay” by Martin Kippenberger, a 1993 screenprint on paper. In the early ’90s, Kippenberger was pushing the limits of art and activism, using posters to rally attention for the AIDS crisis sweeping Europe and the United States. The poster’s bold, unapologetic typography and striking color scheme capture his signature humor while making a pointed social critique. It sits within a body of 178 posters that the artist created over his career—works that were often printed in standard advertising sizes and displayed at galleries, parties, and even as invitations to exhibitions. These prints were not mere advertisements; they were a political act, a way to challenge conventional art hierarchies and to bring issues like homosexuality and illness into public view. As Jutta Koether noted in a 2006 catalogue, “Martin’s posters best represent him… they were critical and politicised, perfectly expressing his ideas and his personality.”
See it in person
Happy to be Gay is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
