Norwood Young's "House of the Naked Davids"
Nineteen naked “Davids” festoon the Hancock Park residence of Norwood Young. The huge reproductions of Michelangelo’s famous statue have not always been popular with Young’s neighbors. His decorating choices have made him the subject of several lawsuits over the years. He notes of the sale: “It’s up to the new owner to decide what to do with all the David statues.” For the LA Times article, plus a video of the strange spread, click here.
Posted in Architecture, Collecting, Gardening, Los Angeles, Strange News
Tagged architecture, Art, Camp, Culture, David, Hancock Park, House, Kitsch, Los Angeles, Michelangelo, Naked
Richard Bolingbroke. Lost. 2009. From the series "Art is a Four Letter Word"
Friend of this site Richard Bolingbroke has launched a new website. Bolingbroke says of his series Art is a Four Letter Word: “Words and images are the two main ways we communicate and understand the world around us. In these paintings I explore the interplay of words and images in an effort to understand both the innate tension that exists between these two methods of defining and recording ideas, and the bond that they can create with intellect and sensation.” His new site is live, here. Enjoy!
Posted in Collecting, Internet, Richard Bolingbroke, San Francisco, Spirituality
Tagged Art, Culture, Gay, Image/Text, Richard Bolingbroke, San Francisco, Spirituality, Watercolor
Eric Robinson. photo: Gay Highwaymen
Friend of this site Eric Robinson has been shooting us, and our friends for a couple of years now. Tintypes! Ambrotypes! Pics on metal and glass…way old school, 19th century-style. PDQ, he will be a “Master.” No, not like That! His MFA (Master of Fine Arts) show opens in August, and he is already showing all over like the worst exhibitionist ever. His ongoing Leathermen series is part of a larger archival project called Other Ways of Being. Robinson says of his work: “What I seek with my camera is the difference – visible difference – that allows us to identify or disassociate with groups, cultures or communities.” These are important cross-cultural concerns, and Robinson’s unique camera view points our brains at them. Leathermen has already shown three times nationally (Chicago, San Francisco and Vermont) and is BIG in Indonesia, where it is featured in the glossy mag, PhotoArt Contemporary. Cool. Keep watching, ’cause this fantastic old-school shutter-bug boy is going to be BIG. Well. If we have anything to do with it anyway…more here. Enjoy!
Posted in Collecting, Eric Robinson, Indonesia, Leather, Mendocino County, Photography, San Francisco, Southern Illinois
Tagged Ambrotype, Art, BDSM, California, Culture, Eric Robinson, Gay, Indonesia, Kink, Leather, Photography, Sexy, Tintype
Banksy on 9th St. SF. Photo: Gay Highwaymen, Dec 2010.
Banksy! We snapped this shot on 9th St between Folsom and Harrison Streets in San Francisco’s SOMA (South of Market) district some time back. Popped up “just so” during last year’s run of Exit Through The Gift Shop.
Hey, B,…if you ever want to extend your marvelous marks into the rural fabulosity of NorCal, you are invited. Hospitality, anonymity, great groovy walls and other cool surfaces guaranteed!
Posted in Activism, ANIMALS: Human and otherwise..., Art and Artists, Collecting, DIY and Maker Culture, Photography, San Francisco, Signage, Street Art, Grafitti, etc., Subcultures
Tagged Art, Banksy, Culture, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Film, Folsom St, Grafitti, Photography, Rat, San Francisco, SCANDAL: Politics, Crime, Revolution and More., Signage, SOMA, Street Art, Grafitti, etc.
Posted in Collecting, DIY and Maker Culture, Photography, Signage, Spirituality, The Buddha Nature
Tagged Art, Conceptual, Erotic, Found Object, Gay, Red Thread, Sex, Spirituality, The Buddha Nature, Zen
Bigger than a housecat. Smaller than a lion. Dangerous, but bubbly and surprisingly refreshing! The Buddha Nature sharpens it’s claws.
Posted in ANIMALS: Human and otherwise..., Collecting, Photography, Signage, Spirituality
Tagged Buddha, Dr Pepper, iPhone, Lion, Photography, Pop Art, Sutra
My keys. His poster. Just hanging there looking good. iPhone photo.
Posted in Bodybuilding/Muscles, Collecting, Jim's Home Gym, Leather, Subcultures
Tagged Gay, Gym, iPhone, Leather Flag, Photography, Poster, Sexy
Noel Ibay
Noel Ibay is exhibiting his images of Bears and Chubs at Magnet. The show is called BEarMUSEMENT, and includes graphite drawings, electronic media, cartoons, and pop-culture parodies and is intended to queer audience notions of male beauty. At Magnet in San Francisco through June. 4122 18th Street in the Castro district. Part of the 14th Annual Queer Arts Festival. More on that here.
Posted in Activism, Art and Artists, Collecting, Comics, DIY and Maker Culture, Men, San Francisco, Subcultures
Tagged Art, Bara, Bears, Chub, Comics, Culture, Gay, Magnet, QCC, Queer Arts Festival, San Francisco, Sexy, subculture
Doubt the death of the author? At art.com, visitors can choose images from the library and preview them framed over the couch in a choice of living rooms or stretched over canvas above the toilet in the bathoom. It’s the ‘view-in-room’ option, a database-driven, semi-automatic and very interactive shopping experience. Most of their images are drawn from the visual arts canon, but they also offer medical stock photography and other arcane scientific and historical subjects, which make for some very strange interior design possibilities. Pictured here: AIDS Virus, Black Background Photographic Print, 32′ x 24″ framed, displayed in the #2 children’s bedroom option. Get it here. Or not.
Opening Saturday from 1-4 pm at SOMArts: Queer It Yourself: Tools for Survival. How do we make and do things that will have a lasting import? Straight culture has its traditions, institutions and social formulations and so have we. Sometimes they are parallel, other times a bit askew. When queers ask one another: “Is he family?” the word means something very different than when it is deployed as a semiotic weapon, as is the case with the coded phrase “family values.” How can we reconfigure notions (ie: the family) that have historically been used to separate, condemn and alienate us into useful tools for our collective long-term survival?
Artist and friend of this site Richard Bolingbroke explains how this works for him:
“These two pieces are part of my series Family Portrait in which I portray the men and women I am close to. As a gay man I needed to create my own ‘Family’ and I decided to document it myself rather than let straight society do it for me.. These men are my lovers and close friends. This is my community, my family. There are over 40 drawings in this series and these two of Frank and Luca, and Gary and Joe, are of couples who have both been together over 30 years.”
You can see Bolingbroke’s portraits, and lots of other fresh art Saturday afternoon at SOMArts, 934 Brannan Street in San Francisco. Opening at the same time in the side gallery: A History of Queer Street Art. More on that later.
Posted in Collecting, DIY and Maker Culture, Men, Richard Bolingbroke, San Francisco, Subcultures
Tagged Art, Culture, Gay, QIY, Richard Bolingbroke, San Francisco
The Gay Highwaymen 