The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the GLAAD Board of Directors, the Honorary Committee and Arts Advisory Committee and this year’s Planning Committee invite you to join them for OUTAuction NYC - the eighth annual art event to celebrate established and emerging artists, while recognizing GLAAD’s Top 100 Artists.

Event Details: Sunday, November 15, 2009 5:00 - 9:30 pm Metropolitan Pavilion 125 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 Dress: Cocktail Chic

Since 2002, GLAAD has produced this annual fundraising event to support their programmatic work. Part art auction and part glamorous cocktail reception, OUTAuction NYC is the must attend event of the fall season. Join them and bid on 100 unique pieces of art. Last year’s live auction featured work from Pablo Picasso, Herb Ritts, Steven Klein, and Marc Chagall. Past artists include: Ross Bleckner, Ryan McGinness, Patrick McMullan, Annie Leibovitz, Karim Rashid, Mario Sorrenti, Peter Max, Rosie O’Donnell, and many others. Celebrities who have participated in the past include: Tom Ford, Susie Essman, Patricia Fields, Eva LaRue and Junior Vasquez among others.

http://www.glaad.org/outauction2009  

Among this year 100 artist, I recognized some names of people I "met" online for different reason, and obviously I asked them for a sneak peek of their artwork:

Aaron Kratch, author of Half-Life, a coming of age gay-themed novel I reviewed, and Top 100 Gay Novels author


Aaron Kratch - Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
http://www.aaronkrach.com/  

Frank Louis, Italian-American photographer who already in the past gifted my LiveJournal with some exclusive photos of my Man Candy, and wonderful online friend, Jack MacKenroth


Frank Louis - Twilight 5
http://franklouis.com/gallery/  

Our common online friend, fantastic artist and now wonderful cover artist, Paul Richmond


Paul Richmond - Noah's Gay Wedding Cruise
http://www.paulrichmondstudio.com/

If you love the old savage romance, maybe you don't know the name Robert McGinnis but for sure you know his work, he is the cover artist for the first 13 books by Johanna Lindsey, yes, those famous and notorious covers, loved, hated, that sometime you find with a strategically positioned "sales price" and that are now collectible items for the lovers and fans of the genre.



( more pics )

Robert McGinnis was born in 1926. He grew up in Wyoming and Ohio and studied art at Ohio State University and the Central Academy for Commercial Art in Cincinnati. He has done advertising work, book and magazine illustration, gallery art and movie poster (Breakfast at Tiffany for telling "only" one and many of the James Bond films). The first of his nearly eleven hundred paperback covers appeared in 1958. His home and studio are in Old Greenwich, Connecticut.

This is actually the 10th of the "Johanna Lindsey" covers, but I think it deserve to be out of the cut as first since it is the one that often you find with a "special price" stick on the... bum of the man and you can't remove it! Anyway, after this one enjoy also all the other covers, in release order:



( Robert McGinnis' covers for Johanna Lindsey )

Paperback Covers of Robert McGinnis released in 2001 by Pond Press is now a collectible item itself.
 
Amazon: Paperback Covers of Robert McGinnis.

A beautifully designed and produced book of the best of Robert McGinnis, one of America's foremost illustrators and a member of the American Illustration Hall of Fame. Since 1958, he has painted over 1,000 paperback covers in all genres, including mystery, romance, and western. In addition to a definitive list of his paperback work, the book provides over 200 full color illustrations, not just of the book covers, but of McGinnis' model photos, sketches, roughs and finished art. The book will provide indispensable to collectors of his works, as well as a visual treat for lovers of fine illustration.

A Native Nevadan, Nicol has used the male figure, photographed and digitally manipulated, as a means of formulating a response to her experiences in Nevada’s often contradictory landscapes of desire. Nicol’s work has been described as a fusion between printmaking, painting, and digital photography. As a result, Nicol’s multilayered compositions posit engaging questions to viewers regarding relationships, social identities, and societal issues surrounding the female gaze.

 
digital pigment,oil glazes, resin

( more pics )

Candace Nicol currently works out of her studio in Reno, Nevada and is a co-founder of the Northern Nevada Printmakers’ conspiracy. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and occupies such prestigious permanent collections as the Boise Art Museum, Corcoran College of Art and Design, Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper at Rutgers University, Southern Graphics Council Archives, The Kinsey Institute, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, and Painting and Sculpture Museum Association, Istanbul, Turkey. She has recently been awarded the distinguished Nevada Arts Council 2009 Artist Fellowship and is a Sierra Arts 2008 Artist Grant recipient. She has also been awarded an honorable mention in Printmaking Today, a review of fine art printmaking at the Dedalo Center for Contemporary Art, and the Castle of Castiglione Museum, Abruzzo, Italy.

http://www.candacenicol.com/

Brett Wexler is a Photographer, creator of Digital Images, Fine Art, Paintings, and Drawings. He builds artwork around landscapes and nudes. Wexler's art draws from Renaissance painting, semiotics, alternative technique and totemic magic. An internationally published photographer of the male nude, his images appear in 4 books on 3 continents (including Abrams Books and Prestel). The Studio is located in Tribeca with a summer studio in East Hampton, NY. He has taught in a division of the Museum of Modern Art (Amagansett).



( more pics )

Brett's art explores the creation of photographic imagery. He began by studying classical painting and drawing. Early in his career, Brett sought to create graphically powerful Black and White images of the nude male. He chose this subject matter as a social comment against the anti-male image prejudices of the day. In his travels, he shot and captured landscape images. While many artists struggled to develop a unique style to enhance marketability, Brett followed an architectural notion to let the form follow the interior--or in his case, the medium, an idea already cultivated by Man Ray and others. Then, with the rapid advance of computer based images, Brett became fascinated with moving images from computers to celluloid and back. While many others focused on perfect prints, Brett focused on creating perfect negatives using the array of alternative media from nineteenth and first half of the 20th century techniques as well as panorama and digital manipulation ssoftware algorithms as they became available. His negatives, sometimes more than 4 square feet in size, printed as cyanotypes and silver albumin images-- some of the largest ever created. Choices of media were often influenced by totemism and magical concepts (cyanotype, made with cyanide was used to portray the social danger of controversial images of male-male affection.)

http://www.brettwexlerart.com/

"Born in Ardennes, a beautiful region between France and Belgium, I live in Paris where I studied and now work for quite some years now. To earn my living, I started working in a pub, but very quickly I went into the cartoon illustration. For fun and almost only, my website features my drawings and my various works..." - Benoît Prévot

 
Homme endormi, Size: 40x50, aquarelle, crayon

( more pics )

"Benoit Prévot is a French illustrator and comic artist with a sideline in stylish homoerotics. He’s witty too, wit being a rare quality in art of this nature, as is the Twenties’ atmosphere he so obviously enjoys" John Coulthart, artist and designer

Benoît Prévot is also the illustrator and writer of Angelface, a series set in an era of prohibition, swing, speak easies and loose morals! A fantastic journey that intertwines elegance with erotica released in English by Class Comics.

http://www.benoitprevot.com/

Myles Antony was born and raised in Dublin, where he studied art under the noted Irish painter, Fergus O'Ryan. While still in his teens, Myles moved to - what was then - 'Swinging London'.

Within a short period of time he joined the John Stephen Organisation, founders of the Carnaby Street phenomenon, becoming Art Director after a few years. When the whiz kids of Carnaby Street grew up, Myles moved on to Graphic Design, creating TV logos, record sleeves and movie posters. In 1985 he held his first solo exhibition at the Edinburgh Festival, which was a great success.

 

( more pics )

Since then he has exhibited yearly at Adonis Art. Together with publications of Myles' work as greetings cards and limited editions, exhibitions have also been held in Amsterdam at the famed Rob Gallery and in Berlin at the Mr B. Gallery.

His works were also selected for exhibition at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, in 1990.

Myles Antony has broken barriers in his bold approach to the use of watercolour, being true to, and in great control of, the medium. The colours he uses, the delicate lines, the soft focus imagery, give his work character and vision. With keenly observed figures in search of an erotic ID, each and every one is a portrait of a real person. The paintings are at times daring and amusing, but always warm and human.

http://www.adonisartgallery.com/Myles-Antony-_c_47-1-0.html

Very few info on this artist, and his blog is inactive, but you can browse the gallery on DevianArt:

http://gormax.deviantart.com/

I like his "young" style and the solid and deep use of the colors.

 

( more pics )

Current Residence: Cologne, Germany

Interests: photography, arts, architecture

Favourite genre of music: RnB

Favourite style of art: vector, pixel, ink

I'm really glad to have as guest blogger Paul Richmond. I found Paul when he was "ONLY" an artist (only is such a restrictive word, Paul is a great artist!), and I posted some of his Cheesecake Boys. Than I recognized his name in a cover artist credits, Zero at the Bone, and thought: great, maybe the little cover artist world snagged a good name from the big art world. And so it was, from that first cover, Paul gifted us with more wonderful works, and now I'm glad to leave to him the ball. Read carefully, since this is an awesome blog on being a very professional cover artist, any author who has a cover by him is a very lucky author!
 

Shades of Gray by Brooke McKinley

"Thanks for inviting me back to share more of my recent cover illustrations. Since we last spoke, I have been a busy boy! I’ve never been one to do anything “just a little bit,” and now that I’m working on my twelfth cover illustration in two months, I would say I have officially jumped head-first into the world of gay fiction. And what fun! The authors have all been incredible to work with, and I’m greatly enjoying bringing their characters to life. You asked me to share a little about my process, which I am happy to do. I’ll even show you a few of my reference photos, which are always hilarious, and some of the sketches and in-progress pieces I’m working on at the moment.

( The Hired Man by Jan Irving )
 
However, first I would like to introduce your readers to a little online contest I’m launching today called “Uncovered.” The idea sprang from a conversation over quesadillas with my friend Maria, who said that many of my cover illustrations would make great fine art prints. Thanks, Maria! Now back in my studio, with no Mexican food to inspire further brainstorming, I can’t decide which one to release first. So I decided to leave it up to the people who know best – you! I’ve narrowed it down to three options, and I’d like to invite all of you to visit my contest page (http://www.paulrichmonduncovered.blogspot.com/) and vote for your favorite.


 
One person will be randomly chosen to receive the first in the limited-edition series of prints created for the winning cover image, and Dreamspinner will also send them a copy of the novel/novella with the prize. The winner will be announced on November 7 when I am the virtual “guest speaker” on Shared Wisdom (http://community.livejournal.com/shared_wisdom), so go vote and then be sure to join me on the 7th to find out the results. I can’t wait to see what you choose (and shameless campaigning for your favorite is strongly encouraged)! Many thanks to Elisa for letting me launch my contest here, as well as Shared Wisdom and Dreamspinner for helping sponsor it.

( Veiled Security by Carolyn LeVine Topol )
 
Ok, now back to business. Let me invite you into my studio to witness how a cover is born (I promise it won’t be anything like the medical shows that Dennis, my nursing-student fiancé, makes me watch). First, the publisher/author provides me with a basic description of the story, characters, and any ideas they’ve generated about the cover image. I’d love to be able to read all the books first, but until I make time for that speed-reading course I’ve always wanted to take, I rely on these summaries to help me get started. Perhaps the curiosity I feel over the details of the story is ultimately a benefit to the final image, eliciting that same response in potential readers. At least I would like to think so…

( Patient Eyes by Andy Eisenberg )
 
This is the point when I start trying to envision the image. If I can convince Dennis to put down his textbook long enough to pose for me, that’s my first choice. Unfortunately, I’ve kind of burnt that bridge thanks to some of the ridiculous scenarios I’ve concocted in the past for my Cheesecake Boy pin-up series. I can’t imagine why my Jewish honey would find it slightly undignified to pretend that he’s putting a star on top of a Christmas tree while his robe flies open to reveal a pair of skimpy, candy-cane printed undies! Anyway, option B is to recruit friends, who I must say have been incredibly good sports for some of my latest covers, but they’re busy people too who unfortunately aren’t able to be at my beck and call whenever I need a random cowboy silhouette or sketches of a flamboyant fashion designer. That leaves me with my third (and, by default, increasingly popular) option – me. The good-old self-timer on my camera has made it possible for me to become my own model, though extensive revisions are required at the sketching phase when this method is employed!

( Mistletoe Madness )
 
You may wonder why these reference photos are even necessary. I spent four years in figure drawing class in college, plus I’m pretty well-acquainted with male anatomy anyway, so couldn’t I just make it up? While I do use my imagination to invent elements of the scene and embellish upon the photos, I find it immensely helpful to have a reference image that depicts the more subtle details of light/shadow (even if I have to imagine how those things would fall across a bicep or butt cheek with a little more oomph than what I currently have to offer as a model). Maybe if I’d just hit the gym more, we could use my reference photos for the covers and save lots of time! :-)


Development of Facade cover

As it is though, I print out the best of my photos and begin sketching. This is where the detailed descriptions written by the authors come in handy. Sometimes they reference a specific celebrity who they would like their look to be patterned after, which is especially helpful (kind of like that photo of Jake Gyllenhall that I used to take to my hairstylist until he finally told me it was time to chase another dream). As I’m working on the sketch, I also pay attention to possible interactions between the image and the typography. Some illustrators prefer not to think about type, but I personally like incorporating this visual element, and scouring the web for the perfect font to compliment the image.

( Facade by Zahra Owens )
 
Once the sketch is complete, I scan it in, add the text to the image, and send it off for approval. If there are any revisions, I make the updates and re-send. Otherwise, it’s time to start making the magic happen! I transfer the sketch to a piece of primed masonite board, and paint the image using only black and white. This is different from the process I use with my other fine art paintings. It allows me to focus on working out the highlights and shadows without thinking about color yet. When it’s finished, I scan it in and do all the color digitally. That way, I can very easily click a button if I want to run through every possible color choice for that little sliver of the main character’s underwear waistband showing above his jeans (and believe me, I’ve labored over some of those decisions way too long!). This technique also allows me to easily make changes after I’ve submitted the image, in case the author or publisher would like to see a different color option somewhere. Usually, the changes, if any, have been really minimal because I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist about these things anyway. However, I’m always happy to accommodate any requests to make sure everyone’s happy with the final result.

( Dash & Dingo by Catt Ford and Sean Kennedy )
 
And that, my friends, is how a cover is born. I cut the umbilical cord and send it out into the world, and it’s always exciting to hear positive feedback from authors and readers who enjoy the images. Ultimately, I hope they will help people discover these wonderful novels and make them want to read the stories for themselves (just as I plan to do once they hit their release dates!).


The Golden Age of Gay Fiction edited by Drewey Wayne Gunn
 
Currently, I’m getting ready to do two new anthology covers, a children’s book about some kooky queens (and I’m talking about the crown-wearing, kingdom-ruling kind here), and paintings for a solo exhibition in Chicago this June called “Gay Day at Paulyworld.” Right now in my studio, I would say everyday is Gay Day at Paulyworld thanks to the fabulous opportunities I’m finding in the gay fiction market, and that’s just how I like it! I hope it’s just the beginning!
 
Here’s a list of current (and upcoming) titles where you can find my work:
“The Golden Age of Gay Fiction” by Drewey Wayne Gunn, MLR Press
(All the rest from Dreamspinner)
“Zero at the Bone” by Jane Seville
“Mistletoe Madness” anthology
“Veiled Security” by Carolyn LeVine Topol
“Patient Eyes” by Andy Eisenberg
“Dash and Dingo: In Search of the Tasmanian Tiger” by Catt Ford and Sean Kennedy
“The Hired Man” by Jan Irving
“Façade” by Zahra Owens
“Good to Know” by D.W. Marchwell
“Shades of Gray” by Brooke McKinley
“The One That Got Away” by Rhianna Aile and Madeleine Urban
“Broken” by Dawn Kimberly
“The Strongest Shape” by Tessa Cárdenas

Visit my website for more information and artwork: www.paulrichmondstudio.com

"My name in Arthur LeMat, I live in Canada close to Montreal.

I mainly do ad illustration for a living. But hey, guess what, I like to draw the human body. I especially fancy picturing the male structure. I don't know, there is something about men that makes me wanna go nuts.

 
Toupet, 2009

( more pics )

I created my Blog to expose my work. So be warned, Naked Men might not be what you want to see. But if you do, please proceed to my pictures, and feel free to send me your comments for I love to get feedback." Art LeMat

http://artlemat.blogspot.com/

Do you know that feeling when you are sure to know something but you are missing the link between two points? I like very much Steve Walker's art (even if I wonder why does he change website every few months...: http://quest.sasktelwebhosting.com/) and I'm pretty sure to be able to recognize his style when I see a paint. Then I like very much some of Michael Thomas Ford's covers (http://www.michaelthomasford.com/), the one with the white background and in the middle a picture of one or more men, always by behind. It's months already that I wanted to buy one or more of that books, but I have to order them online, and usually I prefer to see the book before ordering it. So Sunday, during my last shopping trip (wondering where? Giovanni's Room in Philadelphia obviously!), I picked up one of those books, neither being sure if it was exactly the one I wanted to read, but the cover was so pretty and I knew that the author is very good, so one or the other was the same. My choice is Looking for It, and during the flight back home I sat there, admring the last addition to my collection and suddenly I had a realization: that picture on the cover was for sure a Steve Walker's work! And yes, I was right, I searched the back cover and there it was, the name of the artist. As soon as I was back home, I searched for all the covers of Michael Thomas Ford with that style, and then matched them one by one with a Steve Walker's paint in his gallery. And today I'd like to feature you my little matching work.


Prince of Tides, Steve Walker, 2002

Changing Tides by Michael Thomas Ford, 2007: Few authors write about the full spectrum of gay men's lives with as much warmth, honesty, humor, and compassion as Michael Thomas Ford. Now the bestselling author of Last Summer, Looking For It, and Full Circle, delivers a shimmering, heartwarming story of one summer in the lives of three people, of the elusive search for human connection—and the necessity of love. Marine biologist Ben Ransome understands the sea, especially the tiny, beautiful sea slugs he has studied and admired for most of his life. What Ben doesn't understand are people, and now, one of the most important people in his life—his sixteen-year-old daughter, Caddie—is coming to live with him for the summer. But the sweet, happy child he remembers has been replaced by a wounded, angry stranger who resents everything about her father. Caddie is determined to act out in every way, leaving Ben feeling more alone than ever. Hudson Jones has come to Monterey, California, to find the answers to all his questions. The young, ambitious graduate student believes he's found a lost John Steinbeck novel called Changing Tides that seems to hint at the author's love for his best friend, Ed "Doc" Ricketts. If he can prove it, his career will be made. And then, perhaps he can quiet the personal demons that haunt him. But first, he'll need some local help in his research, and Ben just may be able to supply him with access to the information he needs. It's clear to Hudson that the handsome, quietly passionate Ben needs some help, too—with Caddie and his life. Sharing dinners and walks on the beach, intellectual discussions and heart-to-heart conversations, Ben and Hudson move from tentative friendship to a surprising, revelatory relationship, one with the power to point them toward the most important discoveries of their lives. For Ben, it's a summer of new beginnings, even as his daughter embarks on a dangerous course that will test the new happiness he's found. Changing Tides is an extraordinary novel that explores the glorious flaws and frailties of human beings in the never-ending struggle to connect, to be open to love, and to embrace the unknown in order to live fully.

Amazon: Changing Tides

( Read more... )

Anthony Boccaccio began his career with National Geographic Magazine. His work has taken him to over 30 countries in as many years. Like most photographers, he is a series of contrasts... He is probably most known for his beautiful travel shots, yet while working with the human figure, his sensitivity rivals that of the great painters.

Indeed, his artistic life began as a young painter trained in the classical manner. He has studied classical piano at the Eastman School of Music and plays bluegrass banjo.

 
Friday, 14 x 11, Silver Print

( Sensual by Anthony Boccaccio ) 

He has taught photography at the college level and has studied classical sculpture in Rome, Italy.

“Boccaccio is a straight shooter. You always know where you stand with him. He speaks his mind and reacts to life on a visceral level. He is not afraid to take risks in his photography. He follows his instincts and works constantly to be better. We think of him as part Ansel Adams and part Hemingway.” - Paul Ambrose, Desert Dolphin Agency

CLIENTS INCLUDE: National Geographic, Time Magazine, Eastman Kodak, McGraw Hill, BBC, Saturday Evening Post, Psychology Today, Natural History, Hewlett Packard, The Smithsonian, Hilton Hotels, Holt Rinehart Winston, Apple Computer, CBS Records, Newsweek Magazine, Simon & Schuster, Independent Minds UK, H.T.H. Corporation Japan, Doubleday, Woman's Day, Ikegami.

http://www.boccacciophoto.com/

The Portuguese artist HvH is probably familiar to you in one form or another from a variety of publications, for example, his comics have been published in the American magazines FRESHMEN & MEN. Patrick Fillion’s house of comics Class Comics have also often provided a platform for this very talented artist.



( more pics )

HvH’s drawings impress with their imaginative style and consistent bizarre visuals that are very distinctive.

The first time I saw his works was inside the Eric Arvin stories collection's Slight Details & Random Events. After that he did all the other covers for Eric Arvin, both old a new version of Subsurdity, and the sequel coming out this September.

In June 2008 Bruno Gmunder released Gone to the Movies by HvH: Never before seen and yet somehow strangely familiar – HvH’s wilful new gay interpretation of more or less famous movie posters is highly entertaining. The artist masterfully plays with our expectations, playfully tweaking the history of cinema a bit, where until now gays have always gotten short shrift. His work is sometimes ironic and irrelevant, occasionally affectionate and amusing and in the end is simply a magnificent homage to cinema!

Amazon: Gone To The Movies

"Ironic, respectful, lovingly and amusing in equal measure" Kontakt

"A lot of the illustrations are surprisingly hot and some are hilarious. [...] flipping through it and laughing at a few posters at a time provides a nice amusement." EDGE Boston

http://hvhexpo.blogspot.com/

A photographer I like very much has a coming soon art book, In Their Youth: Early Portraits. Only for the fact that he puts a beautiful and so young Rupert Everett on the cover, I would buy it!

In Their Youth: Early Portraits comprises over 200 of the California-based photographer's previously unpublished portraits from the last three decades, featuring famous actors shot when they were still unknown young men, from teen years into their early twenties.



Amazon: Greg Gorman: In Their Youth

"I decided to do a project that expressed my infatuation with male beauty," Gorman explains, "especially in terms of youth... the portraits don't have lots of backgrounds, they're straightforward. It's really about the person, not the elements. It boils down to the graphics of the individual more than the graphics of the setting." Gorman's intimate celebrity portraits hinge on the sense of his subjects' vulnerability. Here, famous young men are juxtaposed with photographs of promising unknowns: one of the first shots of Tom Cruise, for instance, shares a spread with some anonymous ephebe that Andy Warhol met at Studio 54.

Enjoy some of Greg Gorman's works:


Greg Gorman, David Michelak, Los Angeles, 1987

( Greg Gorman's works )

Greg Gorman discovered his calling after taking a borrowed camera to a Jimi Hendrix concert in 1968. In 1990, after producing images for over 20 years, he published his first book, Greg Gorman Volume One, which reveals his skills as a portraitist. Gorman has created innumerable unforgettable images (for instance, a 2000 portrait of Jeff Koons shows the artist perched on a filthy toilet, flanked by two leather-clad ladies). His work has been featured in ad campaigns and has been featured on the covers of a number of magazines, including Esquire, GQ, Interview, Vogue, Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair.

http://www.gormanphotography.com/

Rick was born and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His higher education included the arts program at the Fine Arts school of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Additional education was at the Milwaukee Area Technical College, the Colorado Institute of Art and various in-house corporate training programs.

 
Blond Stable Hand, 2002, Acrylic

( more pics )

Early on, Rick provided some cartooning for the GPU News, a publication for a pioneering gay organization in Milwaukee, Gay Peoples Union. Some years later, Rick moved to Colorado, working as a staff artist and technical illustrator for aerospace, defense and research companies, including one of the largest defense and aerospace contractors in the United States. Working as a tech illustrator influenced Rick's fine art, steering him towards a precise realism, an influence which can be seen in Rick's work today.

In the early part of the 21st century, Rick established rickchris.com and began to concentrate his work on producing male and gay themed artwork. A series of events also led him to begin the serialization on the web site of a gay detective novel, A PERSON IN A POSTION OF TRUST, featuring a gay detective named Lynn Gordon (Beef) Matson. The story attracted a following with readers who developed a fondness for the detective. Currently, a second book in the series, CATCH A FALLING STAR, is in the works.

"Among my favorite artists are Rip Colt, Delmas Howe, Norman Rockwell, Bev Doolitte and some of the contemporary Japanese illustrators such as Hideaki Kodama. Rip Colt was a very good illustrator of the male form in addition to his now famous photography and I purchased some prints of his illustrations in the early 70's and was determined to draw just like him. I admire Rockwell because of his craftsmanship and his ability to tell a story in his paintings. I like Howe's imagery which seems to jump out of his paintings and the hearty Southwestern spirit which thrives in his paintings. My own art was influenced by my years as a technical and commercial illustrator which demanded that I produce realistic illustrations of things which often times did not yet exist. I got to be pretty good at this and finally it became a second nature for me to be able to produce images which appear photo realistic but yet are purely fantasy. Sometimes it is an enjoyable challenge for me to see just how much of a realistic image I can produce from an idea and my pencil sketches." Rick Chris

http://www.rickchris.com/

Professional Artist and Illustrator with extensive experience in publishing, fashion, advertising, television, and retail industries for over 25 years, Nick Backes is known for creating classic, realistic images for a diverse clientele. Accomplished in pencil, pastels, and oil, he was honored in the Society of Illustrators Show in New York City with work in the Society’s Thirty-First Annual of American Illustration. He has also additional experience in theater art.

 
OK - Let's Talk, 18" x 24"

( more pics )

“I’ve never liked my work,” Backes said. “I don’t think it’s good. I prefer other artists, and like different styles than what I do.” Despite Backes’ personal opinion, for decades the 58-year-old Oklahoma City native has made a career out of creating art for those who see his work in a much different light.

Nick Backes lives and works in Oklahoma City, OK, and formerly was a San Francisco's resident. He attended Academy of Art, San Francisco, CA, and previously University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK. He served as Designer and Illustrator for OKLAHOMA EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION AUTHORITY (OETA) while attending Central State University on full scholarship. Backes studied art as his major, while minoring in theater. It was several years after moving out from his strict childhood home and only a couple of years after graduating from college when Backes truly found himself in the midst of a successful profession. With a confident mindset, Backes moved to San Francisco to launch what would become a whirlwind career. “I thought I may be famous,” Backes said. Within a week of job hunting and a quick skim through the phone book, Backes had an artist agent and a job with Levi Strauss.

He illustrates books for The Pleasant Company, a division of Mattel, Inc., including the art for the “Molly” books in the American Girls Collection. He slso worked with Bantam Books and Dell Publishing Company.

 

( fashion art ) 

He was commissioned by Italian couture designer, Valentino, to illustrate fashions in the 1983-1985 international advertising campaigns for HOUSE OF VALENTINO, Rome, Italy. Backes’ eyes still twinkle when thinking back to working in Italy with the famed designer. “It was thrilling to be in the Couture House with Audrey Hepburn in the next room, and to touch and feel Brooke Shields’ dress,” Backes said. “It was a whole new world; I was so innocent and had never traveled that far. But I got used to it pretty fast!”

Experiencing first-hand the damage and distress caused by the 1989 earthquake, Backes reevaluated his living conditions and decided to move back to his childhood home of Oklahoma City. “It was a traumatic experience,” Backes recollected, thinking back to the earthquake. “It’s odd to not be able to cross a bridge, or to fear going up to the 20th floor to see a dentist. I had a first aid kit and a suitcase by my bed – that’s crazy.” Moving back to Oklahoma, Backes found himself closer to family and friends, and comfortable in the familiar setting. The opportunity to continue working in theater gave Backes the ability to hone his acting skills while designing and painting sets for Carpenter Theatre. But as the years passed and new technology developed, Backes realized he must reevaluate his career as well if he wanted any kind of future in the business.

 

( publishing works )

“The advent of the computer has almost erased all jobs,” Backes said. “It was an era that kind of went away.” Always ready to try something new, Backes looked at this as an opportunity to jumpstart his career and to delve into art in which he had little experience. While computers have made finding work much more difficult, Backes remains optimistic, and has turned to new challenges, including oil painting and murals.

Though work may be slower these days, Backes does not plan to add technology to his current successful duo of pencil and/or paints and old-fashioned creative ability. “I don’t like computer art at all,” he said. “Machines and technology, I just don’t have a sense for them. I’ve worked my whole life to get where I am now, and it’s very hard to try to start a new career.”

While Backes looks for new clients, he spends his spare time painting for art shows, a rare occasion when he can create whatever art he wants. For Backes’ latest art show, oil paintings dotted the walls, breaking away from the customary drawings that have always driven forward his career. “I liked doing oil paintings because I never do it,” Backes said. “It takes techniques I’m not used to, and it’s freer and less restricted.”

The future of Backes’ art may be uncertain, but one thing is clear – he will always be ready for a new challenge, and is almost undeniably going to conquer it. “I love what I do because I can do some things that a lot of people can’t do,” Backes said. “It’s very nice to be born with something that can make you a living, and I feel very lucky.”

http://www.nickbackes.com/

Original Interview: http://distinctlyoklahoma.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=299&Itemid=62

Mel Odom (born 1950) is an American artist who has created book covers for numerous novels, notably several books by fantasy author Guy Gavriel Kay such as The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy, Tigana, A Song for Arbonne, and The Lions of Al-Rassan. Odom is also the designer of the Gene Marshall collectible fashion doll.


Mouth to Mouth or Arrangement, 1979, Blueboy Magazine

( more pics )

Odom was born in Richmond Virginia and grew up in Ahoskie, North Carolina, where his parents nurtured his interests in drawing and in dolls. He majored in fashion illustration at Virginia Commonwealth University and pursued some graduate studies in England before moving to New York City in 1975.

His distinctively elegant Art Deco-like style quickly established him as a successful commercial artist, at first via erotic illustrations for sexually-oriented magazines such as Blueboy, Viva, and Playboy, the last of which named him their "Illustrator of the Year" in 1980. In the same year, he provided the cover art for Edmund White's novel Nocturnes for the King of Naples, which opened his path to a wider audience.


Richard Adams, Maia, ©1986 Signet

( more covers )

During the 1980s, his work achieved success in many commercial media. He created album covers for CBS Records and book covers for numerous other novels, usually in the genres of fantasy, mystery, or horror. He provided illustrations for the science/science-fiction magazine OMNI and (in 1989) a front cover for Time magazine. He also received professional recognition from his peers, receiving the Society of Illustrators's Gold Medal (Editorial category) in 1982 and a Silver Medal (Book category) in 1987.

In 1990, he designed a cosmetic facepaint for Mdvanii, a 25cm limited-edition collector's fashion doll. Although his design was ultimately not used for Mdvanii's actual production, the experience renewed his childhood interest in dolls and led him to create a doll of his own, the 15.5" Gene Marshall.


Item # 92062, Slender Threads, Gene Marshall® Dressed Doll, Gene Marshall Convention XIII Exclusive, Limited Edition of 300

( more dolls )

Gene Marshall's appearance, wardrobes, and elaborate backstory are modelled on the glamour of Hollywood's golden age from the 1920s through 1950s. The doll made its commercial debut at the 1995 Toy Fair and was an immediate success, creating a wider market for large, fully-articulated collector's fashion dolls in contrast to the slightly smaller and less flexible Barbie doll. Since then, Odom has largely concentrated his professional pursuits on the Gene Marshall doll, regularly modifying her design to create new variations and creating similar companion dolls to share her world, such as Gene's "co-stars" Madra Lord, Violet Waters, and Trent Osborn.

Odom continues to attend doll collectors' conventions to make personal appearances and buy dolls for his own collection, as well as to support charitable causes. Of his early friends in the art world, he estimates that two-thirds of them died of AIDS in the 1980s before the awareness and treatment of the disease became better known. At a 1997 doll convention entirely devoted to Gene Marshall, a charity auction of uniquely modified Gene dolls raised more than $30,000 for Gay Men's Health Crisis, an AIDS service organization. (From Wikipedia)

Cross posted from: http://michaelbreyette.blogspot.com/2009/08/stripped-uncensored-book-release-party.html

You won’t want to miss the Stripped:Uncensored Exhibition and Book Release "Living Erotic Sculpture" Garden Party at the New York City Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center (208 W 13th St New York NY) Tuesday August 18th. Marvel at the fanciful recreation of a Victorian sculpture garden complete with stunningly sexy men “undressed” as living marble sculptures.



Your $15 all-inclusive admission includes: Stripped: Uncensored book release celebration, erotic art exhibition unveiling, refreshments, a signed & limited edition piece of art (given to each guest at the door), 3 complimentary raffle tickets and a chance to win an original art work in the Legends of Art Raffle. The winner will be announced at the event.

Pity that I will not be there in time to take part at the event. Remember that inside Stripped: Uncensored are artists like Joe Phillips, Michael Breyette and Paul Richmond, all of them already featured in my LJ in the past.

For all romance fans, the name of Victor Gadino maybe says nothing, but he is the cover artist for some of the most famous romance savage covers like Prisoner of My Desire (just the title!) of Johanna Lindsey and Lord of the Wolves by Heather Graham. But what probably most of the romance readers don't know, is that Victor Gadino is also the cover artist for the first novels by Gordon Merrick, like The Quirk. Plus he is also a very appreciated artist for movie posters and collectible items related to the movie industry. Victor Gadino is also a gay themed artist, hosted in important Gay Art Foundations.


The Magic Pill, 20 x 24, Original drawings in graphite of Angels

( more pics )



( Victor Gadino's covers for Gordon Merrick )

Victor is an award winning artist who holds an MFA from Pratt Institute. His work has appeared in the promotion of the top clients of the corporate, publishing, and entertainment worlds, and awards received include one from The Hollywood Reporter for his work on prominent movie posters. He has created album covers for various artists, posters for Broadway plays, and collectibles for the Bradford Exchange, and Franklyn Mint. His work has been featured in several publications including Aphrodisia II -the art of the female form,Direct Art Magazine Volume 14,Treasures from the Permanent Collection of the Leslie Lohman Foundation,and Dirty Little Drawings published by Bruno Gmunder.He also accepts portrait commissions and his work can be found in the collections of Mr. Goerge Lucas, Mr. Clint Eastwood, Mr. Alan Alda, the Tisch family, and other prominent New York City families.

Clients: American Express, Disney, General Foods, Harper Collins, Hearst, Lucas Films, MGM, NBC, Paramount, Playboy, Random House, RJ Reynolds, Seagrams, Sony, Time Warner, United Artists, Universal

David Carr was born in 1968 and studied art from an early age. At thirteen he won a top scholarship to Repton School in Derbyshire where he studied under private tutors from The Royal Academy, The Slade School and Wimbledon College of Art.

While at Repton he won several local competitions and was part of a group show in the city. He then studied for a Diploma at West Surrey College of Art and Design before leaving art to work in the music business.

 
"Embrace" by David Carr (Oil Painting)

( more pics )

During that time he has designed or painted several record sleeves, posters, flyers and promotional items for a variety of recording artists.

However, he never stopped painting and in 2006, following considerable success in the music industry, he semi-retired and took up painting seriously again. David has sold paintings privately and successfully for the last two years specializing in studies of the male form painted exclusively in black and white oil set against a colour background, taking his influences from the photographic styles of the 40s and 50s but using contemporary models and poses. He is very influenced by pop artists Peter Blake, David Hockney and the prints of Andy Warhol. His earlier work often used multicoloured backgrounds, but his more recent and accomplished pictures are made all the more arresting by the use of a single, un-patterned, colour that offers no sense of distance or perspective.

His figures occupy a void; sometimes taking over the canvas, sometimes only just intruding onto it, but their realistic, almost photographic, treatment and his use of light to carve the figure from the canvas draw the eye into each work and can’t help but captivate the viewer.

http://adonisartgallery.3dcartstores.com/David-Carr_c_101-1-0.html

Mike Stead (aka Mike Bliss) was born in Hartlepool in 1976 to an army family. He inheritedfrom his Mother & Father a strong work ethic and morality that has produced a prolific and dedicated artist. He spent his childhood in places like Bangkok, Hong Kong, London & Germany. He has always drawn & painted. He was a painfully shy child who invented his own world to escape into, drawing beautiful people to be his play mates.

 
''Happy'' by Mikesbliss (acrylic)

( more pics )

He moved to London in the summer of 2002 after a serious gay bashing incident in Hartlepool. He decided that he could either be a victim or refuse to allow the brutality of the attack to dictate his future. He bought a one way ticket and got off the bus in Victoria with £50 in his pocket and nowhere permanent to live. This was nearly seven years ago. From then to now Mike has managed to exhibit all over London from Cork Street to Covent Garden as well as at the Adonis Art Gallery. He works on his portfolio as well as undertaking private commissions - a testament to his dedication, hard work & self belief.

Mike studied fashion in Edinburgh and this design background is evident in the illustrative nature of his work, also providing him with an ability to understand that being a good artist is rarely enough to be successful: you also need to be able to sell yourself and know your audiences' tastes and needs.

Mikesbliss first exhibited at the Adonis Art Gallery in 2006. That exhibition explored very different themes to this one, such as happiness, love, hope & well being. The last exhibition was the exact opposite, dealing. with grief, loss, heartbreak & hopelessness.

The seeds of this radical departure was what can only be described as a nervous breakdown. The shift in subject matter was necessary to visualise the battle to regain his mental health. His life was drained of colour so he extracted it from his palette too.

https://adonisartgallery.3dcartstores.com/Mikesbliss_c_148-1-0.html

http://www.mikesbliss.com/

Jeff Spicer was born in Detroit, Michigan, and has made his home in Western Kentucky since 1971. He has pursued artistic interests from earliest childhood. After completing training in medical illustration at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, he studied theology at Logos Bible College earning an Associates Degree.

 
Walnut, Pastel, 20 x 15

Walnut has its origin in a photo shoot I did of a couple, I was looking for poses that were not only interesting to the eye but that suggested intimacy as well as the trust that exist between two people. Of the many photos I took that day it was this pose that struck me; not only did it have the visual elements I was searching for but the emotional as well, physically the entwined couple reminded me of the two halves of meat found in an opened walnut shell. All worthwhile relationships involve stretching, opening up, bending, giving and receiving, an interlocking of minds, bodies, and souls until the two become the interlocked halves of a new whole.

( more pics )

Spicer graduated Sigma Cum Laud from Murray State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in education and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting and sculpture. In addition to this training he has studied with and taught numerous artists in both figurative art and portraiture. An award-winning artist, Spicer’s paintings are included in both private and corporate collections nationally and internationally.

After spending several years as a freelance artist and illustrator he established Wolf Studios, his professional fine art portraiture studio in 1992, where he has enjoyed great success as a commissioned portrait painter. Trained in the traditions of the realistic masters, Spicer is adept at rendering accurate, soulful images. With a childlike wonder and a personal philosophy founded in a theological and Native American background, Spicer is not content until every until every image reaches its artistic apex.

http://flyingwolfstudios.com/

Delmas Howe was born in El Paso, Texas in 1935 and raised in Truth or Consequences New Mexico. After graduation from high school he progressed through undergraduate work at Wichita State University, then four years in the US Air Force, a move to the East Coast, graduate work at Yale University and several years of classes in NYC at the Art Students' League and the School of the Visual Arts while working as a professional musician. After a return to the West and a successful design studio in Amarillo, Texas he returned to Truth or Consequences.

Rodeo Pantheon is probably his most know painting series: "The gods are tourists visiting the rodeo, isolated from what is going on around them. The nude ancients represent the aesthetic and spiritual world and the clothed cowboys represent the barbaric aspect of man."

 
Atlas, Private Collection

( more pics )

"Delmas Howe occupies a strange position in the American art world. Currently, he is probably America’s best-known ‘gay artist’ – in the sense that he is the best-known artist who puts homosexual feeling at the very center of his work. A large number of American gay men have learned to recognize their own feelings through stumbling across his paintings. His web-site, www.delmashowe.com gets many thousands of hits every year, and he has been further publicized by the success of the recent documentary film ‘The Truth or Consequences of Delmas Howe’, which celebrates his personality, his life-style and, most of all perhaps, the remote little town in central New Mexico where he lives and works. Young gay men regard him as a hero figure, and some even make pilgrimages to see him. Recently he was the recipient of a Governor’s Award from the State of New Mexico, a recognition not of his fame in the gay world, but of his long-sustained cultural efforts in his local community. In terms of his social significance, his career rivals that of America’s major feminist artist, Judy Chicago, who also lives in New Mexico. It is no accident that the two artists are personal friends." Edward Lucie-Smith (to read more)

http://www.delmashowe.com/

I was contacted by this artist, Raphael "Rafi" Perez, an israeli painter living in Tel-aviv. Apart from the usually joy when someone contacts me since he values my LiveJournal (Rafi was obviously more interested in my Art post, but he said that my blog "is amazing with great LGBT subject"), I found his email and the attachments really interesting since he made himself part of his art; he sent me photos of his paintings with him near them, other than sending me some photos where he himself is the subject. I then browsed his website, almost a labyrinth of links where you can loose yourself, and was even more fascinated by the fact that he really lives his art. So today, I'd like to present you Raphael Perez.

Two primary styles dominate the Raphael Perez paintings:

REALISTIC STYLE in which red is the dominant color.


Man on Couch, 2004, Acrylic on canvas, 140 X 100, Private Collection

( Realism Paintings )

NAIVE STYLE which has been influenced by my experience working with children.


Gay Artists

( Naive Paintings )

Part of the site is devoted to Rafi's muses, Eitan Bismut, Chen and Kobi


Kobi on Arm Chair, 2000, 140 x 120, Acrylic on canvas, For Sale

"He is young. He is sexy. He is provocative. Kobi was 19 years old when I met him and in the closet. He was extroverted and sexy. However, he could not come out. He sequestered his sexuality from his parents. And this is how I depict him in the works and photos of him that I place before you all. He covers his face because he is closeted. But yet his bottom half of his body is naked and his body language is obvious in the works which show his emerging exceptance of his sexuality and his love for life."

( My Boyfriend )

Finally part of the website is devoted to Raphael Perez's works as photographer, both as subject than only witness. The fact that he created a series of shots of older couple made me smile.

( Raphael Photography )

The artist, Raphael Perez, was born in 1965 and was raised in Jerusalem. He currently resides and works in Tel-Aviv. He is a graduate of the Jerusalem school of Visual Arts where he studied from 1988 through 1992 and where many of his acryllic, oil, laminated wood pieces and drawings can be found. Beginning in 1995, the artist's drawings depicted intimate relationships between two people whether man and woman, two women and two men. The entire concept of a relationship and sentiments between two people is brought to light. In each painting there is an evident contrast between shade and light. The color red is central to his paintings and consistently symbolizes masculinity, passion and dominance. Within each gallery, one can find a short paragraph of information regarding that particlular gallery.
Perez`s creations deal with the subject of homosexuality. He puts a strong emphasis on single-sex families, pride parades, soldiers, male birth giving, portraits, male nudity, as well as male, female and heterosexual couples. His paintings put to test the boundaries between eroticism and art, while characterizing gay relationships and love as they are expressed in everyday life.

http://www.gaypaintings.com/

Steven Clayton Corry is a 59 years old erotic artist from Valencia, California.

"I am not old, I am just vintage.

Full-time gay impressionist painter, pacifist, pot head, atheist, gardener, lover of dogs, trees, flowers, water, Trader Joes, cats that live at other homes, Pro-choice, feminist, ex-postal clerk that went postal, Democrat, anti-war, anti-hate, anti-trash, anti-christian hate, pro - animals, clean air, mountains, beaches, warmth, Spring, nice people..."


Lust Out by the Dumper

( more pics )

Blog:

http://the-gay-art-of-steven-clayton-corry.blogspot.com/

Gallery:

http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/18159879

Again tomorrow I will have limited internet connectivity, and so I will post in advance the artist of this week.

Nebojsa Zdravkovic is a creative artist of powerful temperament, noted for his precise drawing skills and dynamic and expressive colour range.

 
"Eight Sources of Light" by Nebojsa Zdravkovic (Oil Painting)

( more pics ) 

His paintings are strikingly original. He paints mainly from life. He is captivated by the play of light on his subjects and their settings, and this is evidenced in the energetic colours he uses to create his effects.

Nebojsa Zdravkovic was born in Belgrade in 1959, he trained in the best art schools and graduated with a Masters Degree. He is now a member of the Association of Serbian Fine Artists. He was granted a scholarship by the Spanish government for post-graduate studies in Madrid. He has won many prizes for his work in his own country and abroad.

His work has been exhibited in many group shows, and he has had several solo exhibitions in London, Paris, Belgrade, Athens and Cyprus, including at Adonis Art in 2002 and 2003. Overall, his paintings have a unique brilliance and atmosphere that make them highly distinctive.

http://adonisartgallery.3dcartstores.com/Nebojsa-Zdravkovic_c_31-1.html

California born E. Eugene Day took his Bachelor of Science degree in Landscape Architecture at California Polytechnic State University. His design career spanned many years creating interior and garden design in Europe, Asia and the United States. During that time he was also interested in painting and drawing, but only began translating that interest seriously into photography in 2003. Since then he has been working full time on this pursuit - in developing and perfecting his techniques and building up a significant corpus of finished work primarily concerned with the male image. He now makes his home in San Francisco.


Chris-12 , E.Eugene Day, 10 x 8, Photo/Print

( more pics )

After a picture from the photo shoot is selected, the first step is to work up a retouched and corrected base photograph. The interim result is a perfected black and white photograph which can stand up beautifully on its own merits. From this stage the image is painstakingly digitally hand-worked in very fine detail over a period of several days. Like painting with virtual brushes, Eugene works to build up the developing piece stroke-by-stroke, tint-upon-tint, texture-upon-texture, until a patinated, often ethereal or painterly image emerges which may sometimes be hardly recognizable as a photograph.

"My work is usually concerned with the beauty of the male form – I want it to be idealized, yet still approachable - certainly I am not interested in the buff muscle god and his perfectly honed six-pack. I prefer to use amateur models with a certain boy-next-door familiarity and wholesomeness. I am more interested in expressing the sensual rather than the merely sexual, and the subtle qualities of feeling and emotion rather than the merely physical.

Compositionally I work with the play of light and shadow, and the balance between negative and positive space, both as methods of directing the viewers’ attention within the picture plane and especially as a way to build mood and atmosphere. Texture is very important in the composition, therefore I give much time and attention to ensure that textures are working to reinforce and develop the atmosphere.

Observers will find their own meaning in my work, but my intent is to nudge the viewer beyond the physical and into the intangible - the realm of memory, lost youth, attraction and longing – desire and the quest for the unobtainable. Ultimately my hope is that the sum of all the elements will create wholeness and allow the observer to find a place of inner repose in my work – a sense of stillness and serenity.” E. Eugene Day

http://eugenedayphoto.com/

I think it's quite obvious why I chose this week artist... go New Hampshire, and let the love spread ;-)

David Cantero Berenguer was born the 29 December 1972 in Spain, studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liège, Belgium (comic strips and illustration were his main studies), and works for Renault and Zara fashion.



( more pics )

Illustrator, editor of Cantero editorial and since march 2008, art director of the cartoon animation studio The Picture Factory in Luxemburgo.

Bruno Gmunder released Cantero's Club Life in October 2008: David Cantero illustrates flyers, invitations and party posters for clubs and bars all over the world. His artworks are impressions of real life, colorful and vivid.

http://www.amazon.com/Club-Life-David-Cantero/dp/3867870136/

http://www.davidcantero.com/

Drawing is one of Steve Walker's earliest childhood memories. He recollects drawing pictures from about the age of three or four years old. Drawing came naturally to the Toronto artist, and his love of the art form continued into his adulthood. As a self taught artist, Walker only began painting after a trip to Europe when he was 25 years old. During the trip, he spent much of his time in Europe touring the great galleries and museums. In his words it was the first time he was exposed to great painting, and the first time he recognized the potential power of the art form. "I was moved by something that I was capable of doing," he said. His first paintings were done in a somewhat secretive way, as he had no intention of exhibiting or selling, and had no aspirations of becoming a professional artist.


Trusted Hand, 1999

( more pics )

Producing art about his life and the lives of those around him is as natural to Walker as his first childhood drawings. As a gay man, Walker is acutely aware that he is living during a period of history that is both the best of times and the worst of times. There is more freedom and acceptance for gay men and women, while at the same time AIDS has devastated the gay population.

But Walker's paintings are not about gay people or homosexuality. He describes his art as being about love, hate, pain, joy, touch, communication, beauty, loneliness, attraction, hope, despair, life and death. His art includes universal themes regardless of race, gender, socio-economic class, culture or sexual orientation. However, his work is unique because he conveys these themes through the subjects in his paintings, young gay men. "Remove the gender of the painting's subjects and what we have is human relationships in general, and oneís relationship to the world itself," he said. "As a homosexual I have been moved, educated, and inspired by works that deal with a heterosexual context. Why would I assume that a heterosexual would be incapable of appreciating work that speaks to common themes in life, as seen through my eyes as a gay man. If the heterosexual population is unable to do this, then the loss is theirs, not mine."

( Read more... )

http://www.questart.com/

Kenya Shimizu was born in Fukui Prefecture in Japan, 1976. He devoted himself early on to mastering the techniques of his art. His homo-erotic fantasies (pen and ink) – very much in the Japanese erotic tradition – are brilliant compositions executed with panache and great skill. His paintings on gold and silver leaf, are masterpieces of watercolour workmanship; His watercolours of modern Japan – reveal and portray the present-day homo-erotic fantasies of the ‘salarymen’ and students of today’s Japan.


"Eye of the Samurai" Watercolour on gold leaf painting by Kenya Shimizu

( more pics - no work safe )

Art from Japan has always had a special significance in the West. Superb technique, traditional stylization, and wonderful naturalism that comes from acute observation, have always captivated connoisseurs. Japan’s long history of erotic art has also been of great interest. Within recent years, one of the leading Japanese practitioners of homo-erotic painting – Sadao Hasegawa – sadly died. Now a worthy successor has come onto the scene.

Kenya Shimizu possesses superb technical ability; his pen and ink drawings are masterpieces of the traditional formalized style; and, in his watercolours, his acute observation creates striking images. Kenya’s work is published in mainstream Japanese gay magazines.

http://adonisartgallery.3dcartstores.com/Kenya-Shimizu_c_96-1-0.html

"I was born in South Africa in 1956. My first interest in painting the male nude was when I saw The Agony and the Ecstacy featuring Charlton Heston as Michelangelo. During my pre-teens I frolicked on Rocket Hut Beach a half mile from where I lived. The beach was inhabited by mainly male sunbathers who sprawled out in the sanctuary of the sand dunes. As I reached my early teens, the male form I admired and featured in my drawings fused with my progressively emerging (and apparent) homosexuality. My drawings disturbed my family and peers so my venture into this sort of art was abruptly curtailed.


"Moonlit Encounter" by Philip Swarbrick (Oil Painting)

( more pics )
 
As I grew older, my daytime and nocturnal activities on Rocket Hut Beach increased despite draconian laws forbidding homosexual contact. I was conscripted into the South Africa Police and I teamed up with like-minded officers. We regularly raided the numerous cruising areas around Durban, 'apprehending' those 'soliciting with intent'. As I became more politically aware, enforcing apartheid became impossible and I left the country.
 
During this period I neglected the homosexual content of my work and concentratedon anti-apartheid themes. My first one-man exhibition was entitled Witness to Apartheid and Post Modern Blues. This was held in London at the Balhamgallery in 1987. The exhibition nearly sold out and received favourable comments from The Voice and Time Out. Thereafter I had a painting shortlisted for the BP National Portrait Award.
 
( Read more... )

http://adonisartgallery.3dcartstores.com/Philip-Swarbrick_c_37-1.html

"Mainly my work is related with realistic figurative painting. Beside that I make also other works, just as it comes to me. Most works I make are my own ideas. Beside that I also make works in commission.

My working method: In basic I use photo's for my work. This concerns also the works I make in commission. If it's about a portrait, landscape, still-live or different. By portraits I make the photo's myself if this is possible. Other photo material must be of good and clear quality. In consult with the commissioner we discuss the wishes, ideas and possibilities to find the best concept to work with." Peter Colstee

 
Bed Breakfast

( more pics )

Next Exhibition:
Villa Lila Nijmegen
from 12 september to 11 november 2009

Recent Exhibition:
Kunst in de Markt (KIM) 2008, Arnhem, dec. 2008
Huntenkunst 2008, Doetinchem, may 2008
'Mannenkunst in Tiel', Galerie Henk Bakker, may - june 2008
'100 x 100', Galerie Mooi-Man, Groningen, dec. 2007 - jan. 2008

http://home.planet.nl/~pcolstee/

Stephen B Whatley had a successful showing of his stunning and vibrant oil paintings and charcoal drawings of the sensuality of the male form, in his 2007 exhibition at Adonis Art, The Iconic Male.

All his powerfully striking works are marked by his passionate use of colour and rich application of paint... looking for a work of art that is more than a ‘study’ of the male human body.

 
"Alizirin Embrace" by Stephen B. Whatley (Oil painting)

( more pics )

His work is in public collections such as the Royal Collection & BBC Heritage; and his portraits sitters number many celebrities including Barbara Windsor, Julie Walters, Ivan Massow & Dame Judi Dench; and now his star rises, with the publication of his tribute to Barack Obama in America’s most powerful News magazine TIME.

http://adonisartgallery.3dcartstores.com/Stephen-B-Whatley_c_33-1.html

Again I'm happy to have as my guest an artist that some of my friends maybe remember from my previous post. Paul Richmond and his Cheesecake Boys already graced the page of my LiveJournal, but today Paul is come back again to tell us something more about him and also about his new experience as cover artist. He is the talented cover artist for the recent released book Zero At The Bone by Jane Seville and in the next future he will collaborate with MLR Press.

( Self Illusion )


Contemplating His Dharma

Elisa: Can you tell us something more about you and how you decided to become an artist?

Paul: As a child, when I wasn’t prancing around the house wearing my blanket as a skirt and pretending to be a Disney princess, I was at the dining room table drawing. My mom brought home big stacks of scrap computer paper from work and claims I turned out about two hundred drawings a day. I’m really grateful that my parents encouraged my artistic ambitions (if not my Disney princess ones). They even sought the mentorship of a local artist, Linda Regula, who took me under her wing when I was only three years old. Besides being a wonderful teacher, Linda also became my first real-live diva role model! She encouraged creative expression and storytelling on canvas, which were great outlets during the rocky times I encountered as a blossoming gay boy in a repressed, conservative environment. I always took great pride in my art and in my identity as an artist. This helped balance some of the shame I was learning to feel about myself otherwise. Looking back, I believe it was during this challenging period of my young adult life that I made the decision to pursue art as a career.

( The Cher Within )

Elisa: I browsed your website and saw two main galleries, Paintings and Cheesecake Boys, and they are quite different in style from one another. So, what are the techniques you use for both of them? Are they really as different as it appears? And what inspired you to create the Cheesecake Boys? (BTW they are so cute ;-) )

Paul: The “Paintings” section houses my fine artwork, which combines personal narrative, a little political commentary, pop-culture influence, and a healthy sprinkling of glitter (when it’s called for)! When I graduated from college and finally came out of the closet, I used art to examine that journey and tell the story of my subsequent transformation into an out and proud, bona fide homosexual.

The pieces in the “Cheesecake Boys” gallery also tell a story, one that involves sexy men who just can’t seem to keep their clothes on! They’re my nod to the classic pin-up paintings from the ‘40s and ‘50s that depicted women in hilariously contrived scenes of underwear-exposing peril. I thought it would be fun to turn the tables and come up with some similarly creative predicaments for the boys!

With all of my work, I tend to straddle the fence between illustration and fine art. If I were a Cheesecake Boy, I’d probably rip my pants on that fence! I approach most projects very similarly, whether they’re for a fine art or commercial purpose, by focusing first on the story I’m trying to tell. I develop the image through a series of sketches (using digital means or good old-fashioned pencil and paper) before I sketch it on canvas. If figures are involved, I’ll take reference photos too, which usually means coercing my reluctant partner, Dennis, to pose for me. He’s such a cutie, and I love when I can talk him into modeling! If he’s feeling too dignified for a particular concept, sometimes I’ll ask other friends or just set the self-timer and jump in front of the camera myself. All in a day’s work! The last step, of course, is to paint it, and I do most of my pieces these days in oil.

( Room With a View )

Elisa: I understand that the cover art world is quite new for you. How did you approach it? What are your projects for the future? Any new collaboration, like the one with MLR Press, of which you can say something more?

Paul: Since my work seems to be getting gayer and gayer (“the gayest painting of our time” according to a humorous article on towleroad.com), gay fiction seems like a natural fit!

Through my website, I’ve been able to share my portfolio with a much broader audience which has opened the door for some exciting opportunities. That was how Puerto Rican author Carlos Vázquez Cruz discovered my painting “Not Just a Closet” last year and came to license it for his gay fiction novel Dos Centímetros de mar (Two Sea Centimeters) published by Librería Isla.

Another recent project I really enjoyed was producing a book of my own called Ins and Outs: A Collection that presents some of my most personal, gay-themed paintings along with stories about their inspiration. The book also includes a touching foreword by my friend, the amazingly talented painter Melissa Forman.

Just last week, my good friend Jane Seville released a wonderful gay thriller novel called Zero at the Bone through Dreamspinner Press, for which I was thrilled to illustrate the cover. It’s a must-read!

As you mentioned, I’m also currently working on illustrating a book for MLR Press called The Golden Age of Gay Fiction. It's a collection of essays from gay icons discussing the impact of pulp novels on gay culture. In doing research, I’ve been highly entertained by some of the fabulous cover art created throughout the pulp genre’s history, and I’d love to find ways of continuing that tradition through more cover projects of my own in the future.

( Ins & Outs )

( Zero at the Bone )

Elisa: I read that you will have two artworks in the coming soon art book by Bruno Gmunder, Stripped Uncensored. Can you tell us something more? What type of artwork did they choose?

Paul: I loved the work in the first Stripped anthology, so I was honored that they asked me to participate in this new “Uncensored” edition. They chose two of my paintings: “The Clearing” and “The Greatest is Love,” and I enjoyed teasing Dennis about becoming a star of the erotic art world because he’s featured prominently in both.

“The Clearing” depicts both of us standing against a railing looking out into a vast, open space. It was inspired by a weekend getaway to a remote cabin in the woods where we could escape the daily grind and really focus on connecting with each other. The painting also represents reaching that point in our relationship where we were able to set aside the baggage from our pasts and start intentionally creating something new and wonderful together. “The Greatest is Love” represents my hope that the love shared by so many LGBTQ couples will one day eclipse the entanglement of church/state that has kept us from enjoying the same legal rights as our straight counterparts.

Honestly, I hadn’t really applied the term ‘erotic’ to either painting prior to the Stripped invitation, only because I was more focused on their respective stories. Of course, in both pieces, you also have pantless boys in love – so I can certainly see how the erotic label isn’t much of a stretch!

I’m really excited to be included in this anthology and am looking forward to seeing the contributions of the other artists!

( The Clearing )


The Greatest Is Love

Elisa: And now Paul, if you want to add something else, my LiveJournal is white paper for you...

Paul: Thank you so much for helping share my work with your readers! The most meaningful experiences I’ve had since I began sharing these paintings have come from connecting with other people who see themselves or aspects of their own journey in my art. Ironically, growing up gay I felt very isolated. It’s been overwhelming to realize how many others can relate to my story.

I know that many young people continue to feel marginalized because of their sexuality today. I wish I could go and personally tell all of them to hang in there, that everything will be ok. Since I can’t, I’m going to keep painting my super-gay paintings and send them out into the world in hopes that they’ll make a difference for someone – or at least remind them that they’re not as alone as they might think.


Forgive Me Father For I Know Not

@Paul’s Website
@Paul’s Blog
@Paul’s Online Store 

"Dos Centímetros de mar":

http://libreriaisla.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LI&Product_Code=0975545329&Category_Code

"Ins and Outs: A Collection":

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/477937

"Zero at the Bone":

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/currenttitles/zeroatthebone/zeroatthebonebuynow.htm

"Stripped Uncensored":

http://www.amazon.com/dp/386787025X?ie=UTF8&tag=brungmue-20&linkCode=as2

Michael Breyette is not new on the page of my LiveJournal. I discovered him years ago, probably at the beginning of my experience as reader of M/M romance, he was the cover artist for the Romentics Novels by Scott & Scott. I became a frequent visitor both of his blog (http://michaelbreyette.blogspot.com/) than his website (http://www.breyette.com/news/news.cfm) and I pushed some new authors to submit a story for his 1000 Words Project (but I don't know if someone followed my advice ;-) ). Anyway I was waiting for this anthology combining the wonderful art works by Breyette with dedicated short stories to be released when I found that Michael Breyette is now listed as MLR Press artist, and so I made two plus two: maybe MLR Press was planning to release that anthology? Obviously I'm too much curious to not ask and so I harassed Michael till he didn't give me some answers... (I should think on a career in the police investigation...)


Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Elisa: If it's not a secret, can you say something more about the "1000 Words Project" and your collaboration with MLR Press? Have you already a list of the authors who will take part to the project? or at least some of the images they chose for the stories?

Michael: The working title for the 1000 Words Project book is "Illustrated Men". A short list of stories has been made from all the entries and include new authors as well as some that have been previously published. Some of the stories to be included are ones based on my pieces titled 'Carson', 'Buds', 'Metamorphosis' and 'Red Truck'. The piece MLR has license for the cover of one of their other anthologies is "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", which I expect is a collection of military themed tales.  (Ndr Buds is also the cover of Spare Parts by Scott & Scott, one of the reason why I searched more info on Michael...)

( Buds )

Elisa: I'm really curious to know what inspires you, since your paintings are already a complete story... you don't paint an abstract beautiful man, you put him in a contest, with a story, and for what I know, you often do that without a commission. So I was wondering if you have a story inside your mind that you represent.

Michael: At one time most of my work was just the celebration of the male physique, and from time to time that is my primary motivation. As my work evolved I began incorporating more of myself into it. My feelings, fantasies, values and just things going on in the world around me are sparks of inspiration. Images of gorgeous men are great but I enjoy expressing more than that and I think by building a setting and creating a moment gives other layers and depth that the viewer can connect with. I have a vague idea of a background story with each work. It actually develops as the piece develops. The art sometimes takes me in another direction than where I intended to go.

( Carson )

Elisa: Do you use real life models? Since, let me say that your men are really beautiful, but not that "out-of-the-world" beauty, they can be the hunk you pass on the street walking to work every morning...

Michael: No, most of these men are not real, however I do draw inspiration from and reference pics of real guys. I usually compose a figure from an assortment of others then give them my own spin. I do try to keep them looking like someone you might actually meet.


Metamorphosis

Elisa: How do you work? I follow your blog, so I see your On the Drawing Board posts, but I'm not an artist, so my question is really simple, what media do you use? and technique (pastel, oil, computer graphics...)?

Michael: My medium is pastels. I use my computer as a tool at the beginning to create what I call a blue print. I begin with my idea, then I cut and paste elements together on my computer. I manipulate, alter, and adjust to work out issues of perspective and proportion. Then I make an outline pencil sketch, working out, refining and filling in gaps left in the blueprint. Armed with the pencil sketch and blueprint I start working on what will be the final piece with pastels on paper.

( Leap of Faith )

About Michael: Michael Breyette is a self taught artist who has been drawing for as long as he can remember. But, it wasn't until moving from a conservative family and hometown in rural upstate NY that he felt the freedom to express his true self and his true passions in his artwork.

The resulting illustrations of male nudes and gay themed works rendered in soft pastel are what turned his hobby into a career. In 2000 he found a global audience by posting a few of these pieces on the Internet. Three years later he made the decision to quit his secure day job and be a full time self supporting artist.


Red Truck

One of the major rewards of that decision came in 2007 when renowned gay pictorial publishing house Bruno Gmünder of Germany published Summer Moved On, a collection of Michael's works, followed by calendars in 2008 and 2009. His works also appear in the anthology Stripped and The Greatest Erotic Art of Today Volumes 1 & 2 (for which he won the Viewer's Choice Award in 2008), as well as numerous magazines including Blue, Manner Aktuel, Unzipped, Gaydar, and [2] for which he earned the distinction of having the magazine's first ever illustrated cover. His work has also appeared on several book covers.

( Summer Moved On )

Michael's works can be viewed and purchased at his online gallery, www.breyette.com, where in addition to his originals; he offers prints, postcards, and magnets and copies of his books and calendars. He is also represented by leading male figurative gallery, Lyman-Eyer, of Provincetown MA.

( Summer Moved On Calendar 2008 )

It's obvious that I post this picture only for the goody, since the calendar is two years old... ;-)

Bruno Gmunder is releasing an erotic art book with some of the artists I featured in my erotic art appointment. Till now I know of Joe Phillips (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/430047.html), who I believe is also the cover artist, and Paul Richmond (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/480934.html), who is also the cover artist of the recent released Zero at the Bone, by Jane Seville, Dreamspinner Press.



Comics, Pages: 260, Size: 17 x 22,5 cm / 7 x 9 inch, Format: Hardcover, Colour: full colour, ISBN 978-3-86787-025-2, June 2009, 26,95 €

The unbelievable success of the first anthology “Stripped—The Illustrated Male” proofs that there is market for high class collections of gay erotica. ”Stripped Uncensored“ will fill the gap.

http://www.brunogmuender.com/products/details/id/4446_Stripped_uncensored/search/stripped/

Kent Neffendorf, born in 1959, is an American homoerotic artist. He lives in Texas.
 
The art of Kent depicts nude and partially clothed male figures as icons of masculinity and sexuality. The subjects are exhibitionists or voyeurs or both. The paintings herein feature pinup works, crotch shots and glimpses of the modern life of gay men cruising and engaging in sex with an emphasis on clothing as fetish. Underwear bulges, particularly briefs and boxers, are an ongoing obsession.


A Soft Kiss, 2001

( more pics )

Kent's illustratios have appeared in the pubblications Men, Mandate, Playguy, Freshmen, Torso, Honcho and the Advocate and the novels of Felice Picano and Gordon Merrick. He is among the arstists featured in the Tom of Finland Foundation.

http://www.kentartworks.com/index2.html

David Ambrose was born in 1968 in Wales and studied at the Royal College of Art and in Florence.

He holds exhibitions regularly in the UK in private galleries and museums. In addition to painting his travels, David’s subject matter ranges from days out on the fabulous beaches of his native Wales, to beautiful, intimate moments which both reveal and express his love for music.



( more pics )

His work has sold throughout the UK and can be found in private collections in New York, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and New Zealand.

http://adonisartgallery.3dcartstores.com/David-Ambrose_c_41-1.html

Sometime I post for an appointment, and sometime I post since something caught my eyes... and Anthony Gayton's work definitely caught them! He is not only a photographer, so I can post him on my Man Candy day, and he is for sure an artist, but not a painter, so I don't know if it would be correct to post him on Thursday... and so I decided to follow the spur of the moment, and post him random, today!

Anthony Gayton shot a beautiful piece called Harem. About this work he said: "The Harem is a composite of locations I shot in Istanbul and Uzbekistan, and the Kaiserbründl Sauna in Vienna. I've been working on this picture since October 2008! The casting was vital, as I wanted to have a single model, who represented absolute physical perfection and sensuality. Sebastian was certainly worth the wait!" The main model on the shot is Sebastian Pils.


Detail of Harem by Anthony Gayton

( more pics )

"Ever since the Victorians first began to "truthfully" record on film the existence of fairies, ghosts and other such creatures of the spirit world, it became evident that the claim of photography as a window on the real world was tenuous to say the least."

"At university in London, we were taught the veracity of photography, and it was considered our duty to record the world around us exactly as we found it. Any form of image manipulation was looked upon with extreme disapproval, and the dizzy, superficial realms of fashion photography considered the ultimate sin; it represented the triumph of style over meaning."

"Coming from art school, this puritanical attitude seemed to me not only scarily comformist, but absurdily naive. To me, the beauty of photography lay exactly in its ability to surprise, and contradict itself, to challenge perceptions of the real and invent new truths by telling convincing lies. I determined to follow the Victorian fantasists view of photography, and quickly set about with abandon, photographing unicorns, mermaids and centaurs (albeit with the more primitive methods available at the time)."


Self-Portrait by Anthony Gayton

"At the time, I thought I had learned nothing of any practical use during my time at university. Certainly we had had little or no contact to the industry, and within two weeks as an assistant, I had learned more technically than I had in those three years. In retrospect, I can see that what had been stimulated ie. a sense of conscience and consciousness, was as vital a part of creativity as technical skill and a knowledge of history and culture."

"It then took me eight years to pick up where I had left off. Althought my work since has undoubtedly been heavily influenced by my experiences as photographer's assistant in the fashion and advertising industry, much of my work echoes the interests and themes which had already occupied me in the past."

http://www.anthonygayton.com/

In July 2005 Te Neues released an art book by Anthony Gayton "Sinners & Saints":

http://www.amazon.com/Sinners-Saints-Anthony-Gayton/dp/3832790438/


Saints & Sinners by Anthony Gayton

( more pics )

Ross Watson was born in 1962. He has exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions since 1984, including important surveys of Australian and international contemporary art at the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria , and in the Toronto International Art Fair.

- The Spirit of Football Catalogue, National Gallery of Victoria

 
Untitled #7/08 (after Caravaggio, 1600), Oil on board, 51 x 50 cm / 20" x 20", Private Collection, London

( more pics )

Corrent Exhibitions:
Sydney Mardi Gras Festival Exhibition 2009, from 24 February to 7 March
Berlin Christopher Street Festival Exhibition 2009: June

Exhibitions in 2008 and 2007:
Silence, Ross Watson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Silence, Depot Gallery, Waterloo, NSW, Australia
Overview, Gallery 27, London, United Kingdom
Overview, Ross Watson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Overview, Depot II Gallery, Waterloo, NSW, Australia

http://www.rosswatson.com/

Felix d'Eon was born in Guadalajara, Mexico to a Mexican mother and a French father. He moved to America by the age of 5, and spent his childhood and teenage years moving around Southern Californian and Mexico.

His mother, a fashion designer, was very accepting of his homosexuality and encouraging of his artistic inclinations, so at 18 he moved to San Francisco where he has lived ever since, with long breaks spent in Tennessee, New Orleans, Hawaii, and Hollywood.

 
"Lovers Entwined", Giclee Print, 8.5 x 11 inches

( more pics )

He attended the Academy of Art University, a school that emphasizes classical technique, and he graduated 4 years ago with honors. He put himself through school and worked for some years afterwards as an artist’s model, but has recently found some measure of success as an artist, and has decided to devote himself full time to his craft.

http://www.felixdeon.com/