The Photos of Naked Men Berl Show the Intimacy of Gay Sex

Contents:

• 50 CENT COMPAR JAY-Z TO ‘GAY PATER’ BASQUA AFTER JIGGA CALLS EMEM ‘THAT WHE GUY’
• MEET THE COMEDY PATG DUO BEHD VERY GAY PAT
• MEET THE DUO BEHD THE VERY BRIGHT AND VERY FUN VERYGAYPAT
• GILBERT LEWIS REMEMBERED AS ARTIST, MENTOR TO PHILLY’S GAY ’80S
• VERY GAY PAT: BRGG JOY TO HOM THROUGH ART AND COMEDY

50 CENT COMPAR JAY-Z TO ‘GAY PATER’ BASQUA AFTER JIGGA CALLS EMEM ‘THAT WHE GUY’

From gay paters like Leonardo da Vci and Andy Warhol to bisexuals like Frida Kahlo and trans artists like Lili Elbe and Jefey Cathere Jon, the rabow of great LGBTQ+ paters stretch around the world. In the last 50 years alone, Keh Harg’s drawgs have raised awarens for the AIDS crisis of the ’80s; Nan Gold’s hntg photographs of New York’s unrbelly has shed light on the queer muny; Robert Mapplethorpe shocked the public wh his graphic imag of gay sex acts, promptg a revaluatn of bety and propriety. Thk Ryan McGley’s gay kissg photographs, Juliana Huxtable‘s provotive multi-media work and Wu Tsang’s vio and performance art, to say nothg of J.

In the meantime, we’re takg you on a big gay art history tour through bohemian f, funky studs and dty mm basements to retroduce you to some well-known nam that you might not have known were queer. David might not be homosexual, but he’s fely not heteronormative.

There’s murky homoeroticism  the background of an artist’s work, and then there’s “wh the ck your asshole. But he was also bold enough to pat homoerotic and homosocial scen, like Dancg Sailors. It’s a potent and necsary remr that gay love is jt about sex, pecially nsirg how lbian upl have appeared throughout Wtern art history: eroticized, fallen, impure, wchy and bched.

MEET THE COMEDY PATG DUO BEHD VERY GAY PAT

When Robert Rschenberg died 2008, both the New York Tim and the Los Angel Tim “fot” to mentn one mor tail of his life their obuari: he was gay. Pavg the way for Pop, Rschenberg’s work might not openly reference his sexualy like some other artists’, but cric Robert Hugh lled Monogram “one of the few great ins of male homosexual love morn culture.

And wh that, we’re roundg up our big, gay art world tour.

MEET THE DUO BEHD THE VERY BRIGHT AND VERY FUN VERYGAYPAT

Bgraphi and analysis of work by Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr+ intified artists, or works associated wh LGBT+ topics.

To someone (like this wrer) wh only a middlg knowledge of art, ’s hard not to immediately thk “gay Pisso” upon first seeg the patgs of Louis Frato, 27, the Brooklyn-based pater who’s gotten a lot of attentn om the art world recent years and jt fished up his send solo show, Morng, at New York Cy’s Sikkema Jenks & Co. Frato’s imag of hunky, furry, young gay men havg sex or lyg around, alone or together, are cidly non-naturalistic, boastg a lot of the Pissoque featur of mornism, such as body parts pated out of proportn or perspective, or broken up to cubistic ponents. From his stud Bhwick, Brooklyn, Frato talked to TheBody about patg durg a panmic, about jt how “gay” (or not) he wants his work to be, and his relatnship to an olr generatn of queer artists who ma work durg the AIDS epimic.

GILBERT LEWIS REMEMBERED AS ARTIST, MENTOR TO PHILLY’S GAY ’80S

"Tom's Ey."Courty of Sikkema Jenks & Co.Murphy: I was thkg about how a gay artist like, say, Mapplethorpe wanted to take the most betiful photographs of flowers, so he wouldn’t get pegged as “jt” a gay artist. I was tryg to be more hont or accurate about a gay experience by plitg .

Maybe my pictg sex so much was not really as much for gay people as was for straight people, this ncept of performg an inty to be nsumed. Murphy: You wanted to show banal aspects of your gay life like dirty dish the sk or a msy dner table, not jt sex?

VERY GAY PAT: BRGG JOY TO HOM THROUGH ART AND COMEDY

There’s many thgs clud a gay experience. "Man, Book, Mirror."Courty of Sikkema Jenks & Co.Murphy: So, I’m cur, how do you feel about a non–art expert like me lookg at your work and immediately thkg, “gay Pisso”? I don’t know if I believe that Pisso beg referenced by a straight artist is more appropriate than him beg referenced by a gay one.

That’s kd of a ghettoized ia of history, where there’s hegemonic art history on one si and gay art history on the other. Murphy: Are you fluenced by any gay artists particular? I read some reviews that noted your work seemed to pict gay sex a ls anx, post-AIDS era.

I had a teacher llege, Ken Tisa, who liv here New York, who was showg me artists who were makg work then, and I thought, “This is my direct history or leage as a gay pater.” But I also don’t know if I feel like ’s appropriate for me to portray my work a level of tragedy or anguish that I haven’t experienced. “NORE Your big homie is nng around tryg to look like a gay pater.

Between the ag of 17 and 32, he wrote about forty diari, sketchbooks and artist books which he wrote daily and scribed his thoughts, experienc and feelgs and his stggle wh his homosexual sexual orientatns. After his first love for a man 1999 and g to terms wh his sexual orientatn, the patgs beme peaceful and he prented the homosexual relatnship an ial way.

When Hockney started out as an artist, homosexualy was still illegal both the Uned Stat and his native Bra. Nohels, the pneerg artist set about pictg the gentle and timate sis of gay love, om the very early moments of his long reer. We Two Boys Together Clgg, 1961, is an abstract and lite love letter to gay timacy and queer experience.