Erotic Chatting in Chennai

For the last couple of weeks I've been watching a young Tamil lad lying near naked on his bed almost every late-night (his time) or mid-day (my time) for the hour before he goes to sleep. It's so-called free-chat. He has become my favorite TV show of late. He manages to combine great physical beauty with a keen sense of humor, as well as an ability and willingness to express his anger at the stupidity of his would-be clients. I'm currently working on a short picture and dialogue book about him and his exploits for the International Artists' Book Fair at PS1 in November.

Petroleum Wars

These are a couple of pictures that seem sadly and currently relevant, though they were made some seven years ago. They have to do with our still ongoing Petroleum Wars (much like the British and their Opium Wars of the nineteenth century.)

Assorted Idiots and a Hero

So, the Live Chicken protesters have managed through their protests to deny low-income Chinese and Mexican immigrants who depend on food stamps the opportunity to purchase their chickens live and butcher the birds themselves. They achieved this through deceit, by pretending that there's a possibility the purchasers may try to keep these birds as pets. Such is the hypocrisy and pomposity of these pseudo-leftist cretins who secretly despise the proletariat they say they seek to enlighten. So as not to bring them any more fame than they deserve let them remain nameless and not pictured. They are imbeciles.


Of course the Sale of Live Chickens continues, but now it can only be done for hard cash. No vouchers will be accepted. And the dim-wits continue their sectarian political protest.


By contrast, here is someone who deserves to be named and praised. An artist himself of the first order, he has done considerable work over the years in encouraging and supporting other artists' projects. He has also posed for them on occasion or allowed them to make casts of his sizable form. His name is Gregg Woolard and he is a gem among men.



Here I had him posing as two of the River Gods from Marc Antonio Raimondi's engraving (based on a drawing by Raphael Sanzio) The Judgement of Paris. These were the basis for the poses of figures in Eduard Manet's Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe.


Here you see one use I made of these pictures, among others. It's called Lunch with Crows and it's now part of Gregg's impressive and substantial collection.

Un Otro Pollo de Oxcutzcab

Here's a different sort of rooster who hales from the same town as the last pictured and is even more handsome. These pictures were taken some fifteen or sixteen years ago and can no longer embarrass the subject (though the hopeful reader is hereby warned to make no false assumptions regarding the sexuality of the young man on display: he has never permitted himself any sort of sexual contact with another male, and most likely never will.)

The first of these images was taken in Mexico where I first met him. The second was shot here in San Francisco.




As you can see there is much to be said for spreading one's wings. It certainly brought considerable joy to the heart of this observer to witness such things.