The Jac Collection

In 1980, John Grube, Alex Liros and Clarence Barnes banded together in the experimental JAC Collective. They hoped to capture in paintings and drawings the life of Toronto’s gay community. Their timing was precocious; the next year the Toronto Bathhouse Riots erupted, launching a new era of political action and cultural transformation.

The Collective disbanded in 1988 and by 2006, when surviving members John Grube and Alex Liros donated to Pink Triangle Press the bulk of the JAC works still remaining in their hands, familiarity with their work had begun to slip away.

Gallery owner Dennis O’Connor revived it with a 2007 show and the works featured in that show now decorate the walls of PTP’s Toronto office.

To preserve the Collection and make it available as a priceless visual record of Toronto’s gay community at a turning point in its history, Pink Triangle Press commissioned photographer Gilberto Prioste to photograph the works and journalist John Lidolt to record Alex Liros commenting on many of them.

Read more about the JAC Collective

View PTP’s JAC Collection