Fire Island Art

John Dempsey is a technology executive and historian who splits his time between New York City and Fire Island, where he has owned a home for the past decade. He serves as president of the Fire Island Pines Historical Society, which preserves the island’s history through archives, exhibitions, and events. In 2025, he helped republish The Butch Manual, a cult gay classic that had been out of print for forty years.

‘Part archive, part love letter, this is a book that reminds you why Fire Island has always felt, to so many of us, like coming home.’ – Pride Source‘Strikingly vibrant and curiously cohesive.’ – Fire Island News‘A must-have for island lovers, art lovers, or anyone who has ever vacationed there and never forgotten it.’ – Bay Area Reporter'Fire Island Art looks beyond the island’s reputation as a queer summer utopia, revealing it, for the first time, as a creative hub that influenced artists from Richard Avedon to Wolfgang Tillmans.’ – Air Mail'Fire Island Art: 100 Years, edited by Fire Island Pines Historical Society president John Dempsey, lifts the veil on the slender isle’s outsized role in queer artmaking from the 1930s to the present. . . . Essays, interviews, and primary texts (from Frank O’Hara, Wolfgang Tillmans, and others) crescendo into a chorus of perspectives generations to come will be grateful to have all in one place.’ – CULTUREDIn Fire Island Art: 100 Years, the historian and longtime Fire Island resident John Dempsey chronicles the community’s rich artistic output.’ – T Magazine‘Chronicles [Fire Island’s] history through a dynamic visual survey across media, highlighting many previously unpublished works.’ – L’Officiel‘Like the island itself, [Fire Island Art's] ethos is generous and encompassing, including lesser-known local artists.’ – Editors@Large‘[A] big, smart, lively book . . . the range of opinions, ideas and images comes on like wave after wave of the ocean that inspires so much Fire Island art and life.’ – Vince Aletti, Dave, of The Week‘For the first time, [Fire Island's] art history is getting its moment in Fire Island Art: 100 Years, an astonishingly gorgeous volume edited by John Dempsey.’ – Gay Cities‘Celebrates the island’s rich visual legacy [with] fifteen hope-filled chapters.’ – Financial Times‘Shows that the work of Robert Mapplethorpe and Peter Hujar as well as a new generation of artists would not be the same without the New York island.’ – The Guardian‘A lush survey that makes a powerful case for Fire Island as a wellspring of queer art.’ – Kirkus, STARRED review‘The first major collection to document Fire Island’s contributions to art history.’ – Out Magazine