Thursday, September 30, 2010

Studies for Murals 1992



Some friends I've only known for a few years have expressed an interest in seeing some of my earlier work, specifically that done for the Cheap Art Store. Since I was not then taking photos of the work I did and these murals were quickly painted over, I can only show some of the preparatory paintings I made at the time. Fortunately, a couple of them stand on their own as paintings.



Tuesday, September 28, 2010

An English Mermaid and Her Seadog





As a lady from a land surrounded by the sea, both Shelia and I felt that this mermaid dress was the most appropriate gown in her closet in which to garb her for this particular work. These come from the same series as the portraits of Thin Mar Oo, and therefore exude a somewhat enigmatic quality. Again an ambiguous object is proffered, here to a worshipful observer sometimes seen within the frame; in the earlier case to the viewer only.




Sunday, September 26, 2010

A Contemporary Lunchbreak


I would like to begin by thanking John, Paul, Jennifer, Irving and Ruby for having the patience and good taste to do as I asked them to do, no matter how little it may have made sense at the time.





As part of my efforts to imagine a contemporary Déjeuner sur l'Herbe I asked several co-workers and friends to pose for photographs that in some instances recreated the poses of the figures in Manet's great work. These are a few that I'm particularly pleased with and which I believe have the ability to work together.




Friday, September 24, 2010

Taking a Break On the Job

In large part, I suppose this is just some dumb fantasy regarding handsome young construction workers. However, I actually worked construction with some guys from Oaxaca in Connecticut a few years ago, and I can confirm that there was plenty of sexual horsing around on the job; even some dick squeezing, feeling each other up in dark corners, pissing as sexual display, and a little kissing. Nothing as overt as this though; much to my regret.





Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Déjeuner sur l'Herbe or The Lunch Drawings





The time seemed appropriate to present a few more of these drawings from the Déjeuner sur l'Herbe series. As one can see, these are becoming more openly erotic and fanciful. In other words, they are more in line with my idea of social well being.




Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Execution of the Communards

Around seven years ago I began work on a series of paintings commemorating the Paris Commune of 1871.


I asked my friend Andres to pose as one of the Pétroleuses, telling him that they were a group of women anarchists who were known for throwing petrol bombs. I thought he was rather a good sport about it, truly entering into the spirit of it all, though it didn't represent his politics.





Following Manet's example yet again, I was inspired by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes's Los Fusilamientos del Tres de Mayo to envision the massacre of the Communards of 1871. I based the poses on Goya's work, though I changed the viewpoints. I asked my roommate, Edgar, and my former roommate, his cousin (and Andres's brother) Rogelio, to assume the roles of victims and executioners, respectively.






Monday, September 20, 2010

Timothy Boham as Hansel

For several hundred years, at least, the mentally ill have been shown special leniency in the more enlightened and just judicial systems. Of course ones social status usually played a part in determining whether or not one was deemed fit for trial. Within the United States now there certainly seem to be some states where the emotionally challenged poor are less likely to face a fair trial. The two most unforgiving of these states appear to be Florida and Texas, but the instance of injustice I have in mind here occurred in Colorado.


Tim Boham as Hansel is displayed for the Witch's Judgement

When he worked in the porn industry in Southern California, Timothy Boham was known as Marcus Allen. From what I've read, he never showed any signs of homophobia. His co-workers spoke highly of him, though they knew he preferred women. It's true that he liked to goof around on set and was prone to act somewhat childishly; but he was not given to anti-gay remarks, and was certainly not violent. Despite his mood swings he was not considered difficult to work with, and he definitely seemed to enjoy having sex with other guys. It's not the sort of thing that's easy to fake.


Tim as Hansel in the Witch's Iron Cage being prepped for Roasting

After he quit working as a porn model Tim moved to Denver, where he married and tried his hand at catalogue modeling. He didn't make a go of it, though, and so apparently did some escort work, ending up employed at some sleazy collection agency run by an equally sleazy (and considerably older) gay guy who regularly paid to suck Tim's (juicy young) cock.


Tim as Hansel at the Mouth of the Witch's Brick Oven

Tim foolishly believed the best way to end his financial dependency on his patron was to kill him and take the money he constantly bragged of having stored in the safe above his bed. Having done in his Collector and opened the safe, Tim found no heaps of gold and jewels, or even the forty thousand he expected, just a couple of hundred. He tried to flee the country, but turned himself in at the border in despair when he heard that he was being sought. Of course there was no leniency for him. The News Media (quite falsely) portrayed his "Victim" as a "Pillar of the Gay Community" and the "Former Porn Star" as a "Closeted Homophobe." Rather than looking at the economic underpinnings of his crime they cloaked it in high school level psychological analysis. When it came time for so-called Justice, Timothy was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. That he was diagnosed as bi-polar meant nothing to the Prosecutors, Jurors and Judges.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Public Persona of Antonio Montez


It is sometimes said that the person being presented needs "no introduction" and the presenter then proceeds to provide this superfluous preamble. Well, here is a very worthy young man who happens to have needed many introductions and I'm perfectly happy to give him one more. Firstly, he's unabashedly and wholeheartedly queer.


Though I know his real name and he's made no great effort to hide it, it's probably best for my present purposes if I stick to his professional name. In this case it's Antonio Montez. For a remarkably long period of time (about ten years) this young Dominican man in Astoria, Queens has been perfecting the skills of his particular trade in a series of, sadly too few, videos. I was fortunate to discover him at the beginning of his career in his very first video; the cover of which bore his striking visage. It is called Latin Thugz and it is now very hard to find.