the JOSH

the JOSH #3 Atlanta debut

2011-02-21T21:20:00.002-05:00

Come join John Q members Wesley Chenault, Andy Ditzler, and Joey Orr, at Outwrite on Wednesday, February 23 at 7:30 p.m, to celebrate the release of the JOSH -- the Journal of Sexual Homos.

John Q will talk about their Memory Flash project and reveal the mystery behind Josh Cassidy, the "back cover boy" for issue #3 of the JOSH.

Limited edition copies of the JOSH will be available for purchase.

Outwrite
Wednesday, February 23
7:30 p.m.
991 Piedmont Ave. at the corner of Tenth St. in Midtown Atlanta
404-607-0082

the JOSH # 3 - Contributors

Jody Fausett
Skylar Fein
David Getsy
Ken Gonzales-Day
Paul Harfleet
John Howard
Doug Ischar
John Q (Wesley Chenault, Andy Ditzler, Joey Orr)
Rudy Lemcke
Roberto Molina-Tondopó
Bo Shell
THINK AGAIN

the JOSH - Issue # 3 now available

2011-01-08T22:35:00.006-05:00

Now available Issue # 3 - Remember Me, Forget Me
Special thanks to Guest Editors: John Q (Wesley Chenault, Andy Ditzler, and Joey Orr)

Contributors:

Jody Fausett
Skylar Fein
David Getsy
Ken Gonzales-Day
Paul Harfleet
John Howard
Doug Ischar
John Q (Wesley Chenault, Andy Ditzler, Joey Orr)
Rudy Lemcke
Roberto Molina-Tondopó
Bo Shell
THINK AGAIN

www.thejoshmag.com

Birdsong #11 - Celebrate this Friday!

2010-02-18T22:34:00.003-05:00

Tommy Pico and his reliable gang are such productive bunnies. Issue #11 of their collective publishing project known as birdsong is now available.

Come celebrate the release of birdsong #11 with readings by the Birdsong Collective, music by gritty folk duo PAPS, and guest reader Jennifer Michael Hecht, author of (amongst many others) Doubt: A History. FREE!

This Friday, 19 February, 8:30-10:30 pm at the new 3rd Ward facility, 573 Metropolitan Ave (at Lorimer St), Brooklyn, NY. Just a few steps from the Lorimer L/Metropolitan G.

Your hosts for the evening: Tommy Pico + Daniel Portland, eds.

Nathaniel Fink on Check Out These Guns: a conversation with Joey Orr

2009-12-04T20:38:00.007-05:00

Check Out These Guns: Nathaniel Fink in conversation with Joey Orr

Joey: One of the first things that come to mind with this series is its visual, cultural and historical indebtedness to the pseudo-sciences of typology and criminology. These theories rest on photographic/indexical capture in order to show that particular physical types determine personality or character traits. The way you shoot all of your subjects from the same perspective (with the exception of Bayne in the trees), though they differentiate themselves in pose, creates the illusion of an objective observer. You are obviously playing on this kind of juridical imaging and mixing it with notions of desire, which I love. I wonder for myself, and for you as an image-maker: how do we make meaning in queer culture? Must we rely on working against traditions of oppression?

Nathaniel: It's interesting you mentioned the criminological/typological aspect of the Check Out These Guns series. When I started the series, I was initially approaching it from the contemporary perspective of looking at male body image issues and challenging the mainstream ideal of what the male body should look like, vis-a-vis 1970s Feminist artists. Once I began to delve further into the project I became aware of the extensive history of typologies being used for psychological and criminological studies and that began to serve as an interesting historical foundation on which the project could be built. The work of William Herbert Sheldon and his theories on male body types was intriguing to me for the similarities it shares with Check Out These Guns, particularly for his meticulous and somewhat obsessive documentation of young male nudes. It is interesting for me to imagine his motivation for doing such a study, since such an undertaking, even in the name of science, would seem to require something more than just a passing interest in the male body. Was Sheldon's desire actually that separate from his scientific inquiry? I find the homoerotic nature of his studies to be very intriguing. Another thing that comes to mind are the beefcake magazines of the 1950s and how they thinly veiled desire under the guise of an interest in physical fitness. It seems that historically, infatuation with the male body has been channeled away from direct desire and admiration towards science and/or physical fitness. Perhaps because we have been working against systems of oppression, desire can now be openly expressed in the media and art.

Joey: So, let’s take your premise that desire can now be openly expressed in the media and art (though we might in another conversation dispute how we qualify the ability to now “openly express”...tricky stuff), and I discover your work. I might ask questions like these:

In the Spring 2009 issue of The JOSH, we find a series of images of topless men affecting poses that communicate their masculinity and sexual prowess. We assume that the maker of these images, Boston-based artist Nathaniel Fink, has more than just a passing interest in the male body. While the series exhibits different body “types,” why are all of the subjects young men (twenties to early thirties)? If Fink is interested in the male form, why not photograph them nude? Why is the artist using the same perspective on all of his subjects (with the exception of Bayne, the photos of whom seem to be their own kind of series)? Does he mean to evoke the juridical traditions of image-making? Do we believe the subjects’ performances are sincere? Does it matter? And finally, how are these images received? Are they sexy? Are they funny? Do they evoke homoerotic (or other) arousal of some kind?

Nathaniel: Since you ask a multitude of questions, and each one is equally compelling, I thought I would break them down and try to answer each one individually.

Joey: While the series exhibits different body “types,” why are all of the subjects young men (twenties to early thirties)?

Nathaniel: Even though I consider Check Out These Guns to be a finished body of work in of itself, it also represents one of my first projects to deal specifically with the male form and thus it is somewhat of a jumping off point for future bodies of work. For COTG I chose to focus on the different body types within this specific age demographic because it marks an interesting transition point between adolescence and adulthood, when men are considered to be in their peak state of physical masculinity and virility (never mind the fact that many men do not reach the height of their economic and emotional power/security until middle age when their bodies are deteriorating. Shirtless corporate executives... that would be an interesting photo project but entirely different). At this age, most men still retain some of their boyish qualities and the insecurity in their masculinity which tends to dissipate with age. COTG is about trying to capture some of that fragile masculinity.

Joey: If Fink is interested in the male form, why not photograph them nude?

Nathaniel: In COTG I was focusing more on the more playful aspects of masculine gender performance rather than the sexual. My intention was to create a scenario in which the viewer feels compelled to compare him or herself to the subject of the photograph. In this way it is a critique of the many hypermasculine archetypes to which boys are taught to aspire at a young age. I think of figures such as the athlete or brawny comic book superhero as some examples of these archetypes that create unreasonable expectations of what a male body should look like and/or how it should perform. COTG is about seeing and exploring mostly average male bodies and the ways in which they may be similar to or different from our own. While portraying them nude would no doubt heighten this element of comparison, it would also take away the playful innocence of the series and thus decrease our ability to openly identify with them. Perhaps nude men flexing will be the subject of a future series.

Joey: Why is the artist using the same perspective on all of his subjects (with the exception of Bayne, the photos of whom seem to be their own kind of series)?

Nathaniel: You correctly note the difference between COTG and the series featuring Bayne, which is the beginning of an offshoot project in which I'd like to isolate specific body types based on Sheldon's categorizations and photograph an undetermined number of men from each group. Originally I had wanted the models of COTG to be posed outdoors against a mostly cloudless blue sky, but due to the limitations of weather and model availability I decided to use the more controlled environment of the studio. The Bayne series is both an experiment with using an outdoor setting and a possible jumping off point into this future series. The idea to pose the models outside harkens back to the beefcake magazines and male physique photography of the 1950s, which served as the initial aesthetic inspiration for COTG. Many of these photographs are posed outdoors, usually in some sort of rocky, desert-like environment as if to suggest that this is the natural environment of the male. Shooting in the studio seemed like an adequate compromise, though, since many of the earlier physique photographs were shot in studios with neutral environments. Since the subject is ultimately the male body, I did not want the environment or variations in perspective to become distracting elements in the photographs.

Joey: Do we believe the subjects’ performances are sincere? Does it matter?

Nathaniel: Each model was briefed on the background of the project and given a relatively similar set of prompts (i.e., flex your muscles above your head, flex down, one arm up one arm down, pretend you are Superman, go freeform, etc., etc.) and responded to each in his own unique way. I take them at their word that it was an authentic performance, however I do not read the detectable smirk on some of the models faces to be lack of sincerity. I think the nature of their performance ultimately negates the question of sincerity since they are portraying such a basic and primal action. Displays of one's prowess can be seen across the animal kingdom, even if it is simply for play. I think for that reason it makes us less likely to question their sincerity since it doesn't really matter if they are taking their performance seriously or not. What is interesting to me is the ways in which we can read these performances. Is the model who appears to be very confident just overcompensating for his insecurity? Is the model who appears more reticent acting on an instinct of self-protection? Are masculine displays by nature an act of overcompensation and/or bluffing your opponent? Some of the more serious-looking models in the series are actually individuals I know in life to be more carefree and extroverted, while some of the more gregarious-looking models are actually more serious and quiet individuals. Perhaps being asked to act out this basic action reveals something about their personality that wouldn't otherwise be apparent.

Joey: And finally, how are these images received? Are they sexy? Are they funny? Do they evoke homoerotic (or other) arousal of some kind?

Nathaniel: What is interesting to me about the series is that everybody who views them sees something different based on their background. Because flexing men is such a universally recognized subject, it makes it easy for many people to relate in some way or another. For example, while the show was up I saw two boys of about seven or eight years old strike their own poses after looking at the images. I noticed that women tended to get much closer to the photographs while men tended to observe from a distance. Many gay men who look at the series have tried to detect which models might also be gay and engage in a kind of hopeful guessing game (an experience very much paralleled in real life). Some of the models have much lower pants than others, and I think that adds to the erotic tension of the images as well. I take a fairly egalitarian view of the series. I think that perhaps there is a little bit of something for everybody in it.

This conversation was conducted as a series of e-mail exchanges in September - October 2009.

Nathaniel Fink - Based primarily in photography, Nathaniel Fink’s work encompasses aspects of performance, video and mass-produced multiples, drawing inspiration from topics such as literature, mythology, current events, and queer and feminist theory. Fink is currently working on merging his divergent interests together into one project. ”You Are What You Eat” (2006) and ”Extreme Diet Project‚ (2008)” are both performance pieces, documented photographically, which explore the effects of diet on a daily basis, while his ”Check Out These Guns!” (2008) project examines the male body through a series of playful and humorous portraits of shirtless men flexing their muscles. In 2008, he earned a B.F.A in Photography at Maryland Institute College of Art. Fink currently lives and works in Boston, MA.

www.nathanielfink.com

Joey Orr – Joey Orr is a freelance writer, editor, curator and former instructor in Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His curatorial work has focused almost exclusively on installation and public intervention, from alternative, grassroots venues to museum, commercial and municipal exhibition spaces. He holds a Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently a doctoral student in Emory University’s Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts, where his studies include memory, queer space and theories of affect.

www.joeyorr.com

Mix 22: New York Queer Experimental Film Fest

2009-11-10T22:39:00.007-05:00

Next week:

Mix 22 - New York Queer Experimental Film Festival
Nov 17- 22
Mix Factory, New York

MIX NYC promotes, produces and preserves experimental media that is rooted in the lives, politics and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and otherwise queer-identified people. MIX’s work challenges mainstream notions of gender and sexuality while also upending traditional categories of form and content.

For complete details, schedule, tickets, venue, check out:

www.mixnyc.org

Lippy - Aisha Abdullah 2009, USA, video, color, sound, 5 min. Young people of different shapes, sizes, colors, races, and genders stand in front of a blank wall. Black and white fast and slow-moving images combine to form this meditation on humanity.

Bigger than Life: Experimenting with Sex - Jeffrey Escoffier

El Abuelo - Dino Dinco 2008, USA, video, color, sound, English, 4 min. Delicate, light-saturated shots of San Antonio poet and educator Jimenez ironing pair beautifully with a reading of his poem “El Abuelo.” Meditating on the act of pressing a perfect crease into a tee-shirt conjures the memory of Jimenez’s “first vato” – his first love of another man. The act of ironing becomes a metaphor for precision in queer seduction—balancing perfected performances of masculinity with the intimacy of the male gaze.

Editions|Artists' Book Fair - this weekend in New York

2009-11-05T22:31:00.004-05:00

Opening Friday, November 6, 2009
548 West 22nd Street
X Initiative space in Chelsea.

Exhibitors at Editions/Artists' Books represent the leading publishers and distributors of fine art prints, multiples and books produced today.

This compendium serves not only as a roster of exhibitors but as an unparalleled resource and connection to the world of contemporary editions.

ADAMSON GALLERY / EDITIONS
BROOKE ALEXANDER
ANARTIST
AZITO
BARON/BOISANTÉ EDITIONS
ROBERT BLACKBURN PRINTMAKING WORKSHOP
BLIND SPOT
BRAND X PROJECTS, INC.
BRODSKY CENTER FOR INNOVATIVE EDITIONS
BURNET EDITIONS
BYWATER BROS. EDITIONS
CIRRUS GALLERY & CIRRUS EDITIONS LTD.
CLAY STREET PRESS
GALERIE ALEX DANIELS - REFLEX AMSTERDAM
JOHAN DEUMENS GALLERY
DIEU DONNÉ
EXIT ART
EDITIONS FAWBUSH
FLATBED PRESS
PETER FOOLEN EDITIONS
FORTH ESTATE
GALERIE A / ARTKITCHEN
GALLERY 360°
GRANARY BOOKS, INC.
HARLAN & WEAVER, INC.
HIGHPOINT EDITIONS
GLENN HOROWITZ BOOKSELLER
I.C. EDITIONS, INC.
JUNGLE PRESS EDITIONS
MIKE KARSTENS
DAVID KRUT PROJECTS
LINCOLN CENTER / LIST ART PROGRAM
LOWER EAST SIDE PRINTSHOP, INC.
JEAN-YVES NOBLET CONTEMPORARY PRINTS
ONE EYE PUG / SUE SCOTT GALLERY
P.S.1 CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER
PETERSBURG PRESS
POINT d'IRONIE / agnès b.
THE PRESENT GROUP
PURGATORY PIE PRESS
SIMS REED LTD.
SOLO IMPRESSION INC.
SPECIFIC OBJECT / DAVID PLATZKER
MICHAEL STEINBERG EDITIONS
CADE TOMPKINS EDITIONS • PROJECTS
TWENTIETH CENTURY ART ARCHIVES
VENDORBAR
WORLD HOUSE EDITIONS

Birdsong #9 Release Event Sat. Oct 24th

2009-10-22T22:42:00.002-04:00

Our friend Tommy Pico and his fearless Birdsong collective will be celebrating the launch of Issue #9 of their birdsong zine this weekend at HiChristina in Williamsburg.

This highly productive creative crew embodies the DIY spirit of indie publishing with exceptional vigor and talent. Come out for a night of poetry, art, music, and more!

From their blog:

This Saturday the 24th come celebrate the release of Birdsong #9, with readings and art by THE BIRDSONG COLLECTIVE

and we’re beyond amazed to feature a reading by the esteemed REBECCA WOLFF, editor of Fence and Fence Books.

8pm at HiChristina

632 Grand Street at Leonard

off the Lorimer L Stop

FREE (be there!)

Check out Birdsong here.

Don't Miss It: NY Art Book Fair

2009-09-28T23:30:00.003-04:00

Printed Matter, the world’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to publications made by artists, presents the fourth annual NY Art Book Fair, October 2-4 at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, Queens.

The Fair previews on the evening of Thursday, October 1, followed by a Benefit.
Admission to the fair is FREE.

LOCATION
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
22-25 Jackson Ave at the intersection of 46th Ave
Long Island City, NY 11101

Exhibitors:

032c
1301PE
2nd Cannons Publications
38th Street Publishers
A-Jump Books
A.R.T. Press (Art Resources Transfer, Inc.)
Adam & Kate Davis, Booksellers
Alias
AM Bruno
Amy Prior / Juncture
ANARTIST
Anteism
Antic-ham
Aperture
Archive Books/Archive Journal
Argobooks
Art Lies
Art Metropole
Art Papers
Artbook / D.A.P.
ARTFORUM
Artists Space
artonpaper
Artspeak
Banana Books
Bernhard Cella, Salon für Kunstbuch
Bidoun Magazine
Black Cat Bones
Boekie Woekie
Bongout
Book Works
Booklyn Artists Alliance
BorderCrossings
BravinLee programs
BUTT
Bywater Bros. Editions
Böhm/Kobayashi Publishing Project
Cabinet
Capricious
Carolina Nitsch Contemporary Art
Casa Vecina / Libros de la Meseta
Casco Office for Art, Design and Theory
Catia Whitmore
Central Booking
Charles Clough
Charles Lane Press
Conundrum Press
Coracle
DADDY THE MAGAZINE
Dalhousie Art Gallery
Dashwood Books
Dazibao, centre de photographies actuelles
de Appel
Decathlon Books
Decode Inc.
Deitch Projects
Dia Art Foundation
DISPATCH
Dobbin Books
e-flux
Ediciones La Cartonera / México
Ediciones Menta
Edition Patrick Frey
Editorial Diamantina
Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI)
Emily Carr University Press/Charles H. Scott Gallery
ese diseño
Evil Twin Publications
Exit Art
Eyelevel Gallery
Fillip
FOIL
Frieze
FUKT
GAGARIN
Galería Myto
Gallery 360
Goteblud
Gottlund Verlag
GRAPHIC (Propaganda)
Gregory R. Miller & Co.
Harper's Books
Hassla Books
Hecho en Oaxaca
Hurricane Publishing
Iconoclast
Idea Books
Invisible-Exports
Islands Fold
J&L Books
j. morrison
Jeremy Sanders @ Glenn Horowitz Bookseller
Joachim Schmid
John McWhinnie @ Glenn Horowitz Bookseller
JRP|Ringier
Jörg Koopmann
Kaiserin
Kayrock
Kodoji Press
La Curtiduría
Last
Le Edizioni Della China
Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery
Lines & Shapes
Lubok Verlag
Marcus Campbell Art Books
Mark Wangberg
mediabus
MER. Paper Kunsthalle
Metropolis M
MFC-Michele Didier
modlitbooks
MoH/08
MoNDao Ediciones
mono.kultur
Motto
Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery
MUSAC
Mörel Books
Name Publications
No Coast
NSCAD University Press
O.H.W.O.W.
Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA)
onestar press / Three Star Books
Parkett
Paula Cooper Gallery
Peres Projects
PictureBox
PIN-UP
PINUPS
Plug In ICA/Plug In Editions
Point d'ironie
powerHouse Books
Presentation House Gallery
PRESSPOP, INC.
Primary Information
Princeton Architectural Press
Printed Matter, Inc
Pyramid Power
r.a.m. publications + distribution, inc.
Raketa
Red Fox Press
Regency Arts Press
Regroupement des centres d'artistes autogérés du Québec (RCAAQ)
Revolver Publishing by VVV
RGAP (Research Group for Artists Publications)
Ryan Dodgson Illustration
Saint Mary's University Art Gallery
SCB ART BOOK COLLECTION
Schaden.com Buchhandlung
Seems
Silverbridge Editions
Sister
Soberscove Press
Sternberg Press
steven harvey fine art projects
Stop Over Press
Straight to Hell: The Manhattan Review of Unnatural Acts
Susan Happersett
Susan Mills
TAGA
Taller Ditoria
TBW Books
TEXTE ZUR KUNST
Textofilia
The Art Newspaper
The Center for Book Arts
The Green Box
The Ice Plant
the journal
The Most Beautiful Swiss Books
The Thing
THEY SHOOT HOMOS, DON'T THEY?
Tony Calzetta / Fabulous Fictions
Torpedo
Tumbona Ediciones
Ugly Duckling Presse
Unas Letras
USELESS
Visual Studies Workshop Press
VisualBooks
Volker Zander
Werkplaats Typografie
Western Exhibitions
White Columns
Witte de With
Wodger
Women's Studio Workshop
X-ING BOOKS
YYZBOOKS
Zavod P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E.
Zing Magazine
Zucker Art Books

FRIENDLY FIRE, a curated selection of independent
publishing by artists:

alLuPiNiT
BAS
Cinders Gallery
Dale Wittig
Darin Klein
Deep Dish TV
Edie Fake
Fluens Forlag
free103point9
Golden Age
James Prez
Kate Glicksberg
Kingsboro Press
Lovely Daze
Michalis Pichler
Nieves Books
Noah Lyon / Retard Riot
Ooga Booga
Paper Tiger Television
Red76
Rollo Press
Serps Press
The Holster
World War 3 Illustrated
X marks the Bökship
ZINE'S MATE
[ 2nd floor projects ]

Devin Elijah interview in The Pandorian

2009-09-23T17:22:00.005-04:00

New York-based emerging photographer Devin Elijah is featured in an interview posted on The Pandorian.

(copied directly from The Pandorian):

Talking to Devin Elijah is a complex, intricate and endlessly engaging process. Primarily a photographer, his wordsmithery however makes for both entertaining and thought provoking discourse. Raised near Boston, he now lives and photographs in New York, “a place where searching souls come to be found” and his intense, intimate portraits “of people on the verge” encompass both the hierarchy and glorious underbelly of the city. As a child his three fantasies entailed “an older hirsute gentlemen removing my knee length wool jacket as we lay down to share stories of New York.” It is our greatest pleasure to introduce Devin Elijah.

To read the full interview, click here for The Pandorian.

Fans of the JOSH loved his four-page spread featured in our Spring 2009 Issue. Check out our web gallery here for examples of Devin's work, and all the other contributing artists and photographers. Devin is definitely one to watch!

The 6th edition of Publish and Be Damned

2009-09-17T22:07:00.005-04:00

Great weekend trip!

Publish and Be Damned are pleased to announce the 6th annual self-publishing fair which will take place at Oxford House in Bethnal Green on Sunday 27 September from 3pm-8pm.

Be sure to stop by and say hi to our friend Daniel Rhatigan, editor/designer/publisher of Pink Mince. Daniel describes Pink Mince as "a modest little zine "for the confirmed bachelor of exceptional taste", published every couple of months or so".

Surveying a wide range of independent local, national and international publishers of magazines, fanzines, journals, diaries and periodicals, Publish and Be Damned celebrates publishing as a creative and critical space for presenting artists' work. As with previous years, the fair celebrates experimental approaches to making and distributing the work of artists, writers and musicians outside of the commercial mainstream. In addition we will have room dedicated to performances and talks throughout the afternoon.

Participants at Publish and Be Damned 2009 include: 9 to 09 Stone Canyon Nocturne, 20x20, 23 Sticks: From Walden Pond to Hackney Baths, A3, Additions and Place, An Endless Supply, Attention Please: A Manifesto Club Album, Arty and Garageland, Bart Wells Institute, Bedford Press, The Book of the Film, Brighten the Corners, Butch Top Fuck Anywhere, Chroma, Clod, Cluster Art Magazine, The Coelacanth Journal, Control, Copie de Voyage, Cowards/Carnivores, Dik Fagazine, Drawing on Sand, Donald Urquhart, Duke Press, Eastside Projects, The Eel, Eye Lust Magazine, Errorzine, IM Projects, Impulsive Random, In Fluence Magazine, The Institute of Social Hypocrisy, Institution of Rot Editions, Famicon Express, Fast Women & Slow Horses, Form Content - The Mock and Other Superstitions, Fun, Fur, Furniture Music, Gandt, Gym Class Magazine, Havva Bagci , Junior Asprin Records, Knights Move, Lubok, Making Do, Marbled Dreams, Matt Magazine, Monika, mono.kultur, Monster Emporium Press , Morel Books, Morphica, Motto, Museum Paper, Mute Magazine, Nero, Occasional Papers, Orient Press, Oxid, Pablo, Paper for Emerging Architectural Research, Pen Pusher Magazine, Pensive Limpet, Performance, Pink Mince, Pigiarniq, Poppy Books , PowWow, Preston is My Paris, Provence, Provincial Forge, Proximity, Readymade, Salon Fur Kunstbuch, Sara MacKillop, Soft, Spare Ribs, Spring Drum Press, Starship Magazine, Succulent L'egume, Supercream, Tough Crowd, Traumnovelle, Under/Current Magazine, (un)limited store, The Unready, Unrealised Projects, Useless, Utterly Mindless Thrills, X Marks the B–kship

www.publishandbedamned.org

Philly Zine Fest - this weekend - Sunday, Sept 20, 2009

2009-09-14T22:26:00.006-04:00

This year's Philly Zine Fest will be this Sunday, September 20, 2009 from 12PM-6PM at The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St, West Philly.

www.phillyzinefest.com

Partial list of 2009 tablers:

Hand Drawn Map Association
www.handmaps.org

Black Light Diner is a Pittsburgh, PA-based distro specializing in comics and illustrated zines, along with a smattering of perzines, music, and other ephemera.
www.blacklightdiner.com

MY MY distro

MY MY was started on June 22, 2004 by Taryn Hipp as a place to showcase the talent of indie artists, crafters & zinesters. Now, nearly five years later she still tries to bring you the raddest handmade goods & self-published material from around the world. In June of 2007 MY MY opened as a brick & mortar store located in the sleepy town of Hatboro Pennsylvania which sadly, closed only 9 short months later. It was after the store closed that Taryn went to join the circus. No not really, but she might as well have. Since closing the store Taryn has worked endless (and sleepless) hours to get MY MY back up & running.

mymy.us

Parcell Press

Longstanding zine distro and publisher, Parcell Press is a local operation in both Philadelphia and Richmond (how lucky!), showcasing the best of the independent publishing community and focusing on the unique and outstanding in both content and format.

www.parcellpress.com

PINK-Nic Times

2009-08-21T22:43:00.003-04:00

PINK-Nic Times: an Instant News Bulletin published Sat. 8 Aug 2009 on the occasion of PINK-Nic at Hampstead Heath, London.

Read Now for Hot Pink Sexy News!

A Splendid Day at the Heath

2009-08-18T20:04:00.005-04:00

Special thanks to our friend and fellow Homo, João Florêncio, for hosting and organizing PINKnic at Hampstead Heath, London, on Saturday August 8th. On an unusually sunny London day we enjoyed the company of our fellow Homos, along with a selection of Homo-centric zines, great food, drink, and conversation.

Artwords, London: More art books for art book lovers!

2009-07-25T12:32:00.002-04:00

One of the simple pleasures of wandering a big city is finding something new.

To our delight, our London meanderings led us to Artwords in the Shoreditch area. They have a great selection of contemporary art books, artists publications, magazines, videos, and more. And now they will be stocking the JOSH.

Stop by soon to get the new issue of the JOSH -- the Journal of Sexual Homos, featuring art, photography, and writing by Nathaniel Fink, Sean Fader, Slava Mogutin, Billy Miller, Terence Koh, Jesse Findley Reed, Stuart Sandford, Dino Dinco, Janine Gordon, Joey Orr, Carlos Be, and more. To see the full line-up for Issue # 2 of the JOSH, visit our website at: www.thejoshmag.com

Artwords also periodically hosts book related events, book launches, readings and seminars.
A great destination bookstore for your next London visit!

Artwords
65a Rivington Street
London EC2A 3QQ
Tel: (0)20 7729 2000
http://www.artwords.co.uk

PINKnic at Hampstead Heath, London: Sat. 8 Aug

2009-07-20T22:21:00.008-04:00

"Be careful, son, London is full of faggots." (my great uncle, a loving and caring man)

João Florêncio & Partners have the pleasure to invite you to an afternoon of food, drinks, zines, and art on the grounds of Hampstead Heath, London.

For those of you homos who enjoy all things queer, all things arty, all things published;
For those of you who like it outdoors;
For those of you who can't wait until you get your hands on the latest issue of the dirtiest, most outrageous magazine for homosexuals;
For those of you for whom cruising is a way of living;
For those of you who think Summer is not the same without a picnic,

we have put together PINKnic, a picnic for homosexual men where you will be able to socialize, make friends, laugh, flirt, bitch, soak in some Sun (the weather allowing) and, most importantly, browse and buy the latest issues of:

- the JOSH: the Journal of Sexual Homos www.thejoshmag.com
- Pink Mince www.pinkmince.com
- S.T.H.: Straight to Hell - The Manhattan Review of Unnatural Acts
www.straight-to-hell.net
- SPUNK Magazine www.myspace.com/spunkartsmagazine

and more.

Bring food and drinks to share.

Condoms and lube provided for those of you who cannot live without dessert.

Date & Time: Saturday, 8 Aug 2009
2 - 6 pm

Directions to the exact location will be sent to guests two days before the event.

João Florêncio & Partners: catering for today's demanding homossexuel

Carlos Be: The Garden of Delights

2009-07-16T11:04:00.005-04:00

The Garden of Delights

by Carlos Be

Photo: Jonny Rueda-Gualdron

I withdrew from the game when I discovered the first gray hairs around my nipples. I finished buttoning my shirt, turned my back to the mirror, and left the room. The mass of naked bodies shivered on the bed. Only one open hand beckoned, in silence, for me to return, but the gesture melted away in that throng of flesh. The hotel concierge didn’t say a word to me as I walked out, and, with my suitcase under my arm, I left Milan.

In New York, life on the streets becomes a continuous assault on intimacy. Nothing resists the onslaught of army ants, and you even lose your raison d'être, especially at night. Lost men run through dark mazes and keep each other company until reason comes home at dawn, on its own two feet, and surprises them as they frolic under the sheets; it screams and separates them.

As a Latin man, heat and sweat howl through my blood. At the age of twenty-five, I already knew how to dash hopes with a cold stare and I didn’t believe in monogamy or in the Universal Cock. I wanted to join DTdL. I talked it over with my boyfriend at the time, Adam, and he was supportive. Why not, he said. The game was beginning.

I contacted DTdL through a forum on Yahoo! Groups. DTdL is the acronym of the organization De Tuin der Lusten. They hold four meetings per year, in different European cities. I remember part of the screening process, some of the tests. First, you’re summoned into a cafeteria by The Officer, this is how he introduces himself. You’re seated and The Officer lays on the table a sheet of paper printed with a person’s silhouette. You’re instructed to fill in the figure’s features. If you start with the eyes, you're considered sharp. If with the hair, you’re narcissistic. If you spend too much time drawing fingers, it indicates a lack of affection. I remember wanting somehow to draw a trip on the forearm of the figure. I don’t know why, or what I was thinking, but I didn’t know how to draw something so abstract. I became blocked. Next came a barrage of questions: what are five traits you like in a man, and also five positions? My answer: bright eyes, a forehead framed with wrinkles, a man’s hand resting between his open thighs. Adam was undergoing a similar examination in another cafeteria three hundred kilometers away. The two Officers wrote everything down in their navy blue notebooks and before they left, they said they’d report the outcome to us shortly, and so it was. The letter came on a Sunday in November. The sexport and a pair of tickets to Luxembourg were inside. Neither Adam nor I was prepared for this. And although we didn’t know it at the time, DTdL would exceed our expectations. I still shudder when I remember the last time I saw Adam, his expression, his intimacy turned into bait for hyenas. We flew together to Luxembourg and there I lost him. I returned alone to New York.

After that meeting, others followed. I would bury my face in countless bosoms, not realizing that all games narrow life’s search. DTdL nourishes itself on exceptional hunger and exploits privacy by eliminating the boundaries of communication. It offers over-the-top excess and promises to tame all the wishes you can imagine. It took me a while to realize that nobody is interested in you knowing what you want: they impose upon you what others want; and that’s a lot. It’s all about winning or losing. In the meantime, the limitlessness of DtdL steals from you. And it steals a lot. It even steals time from you. The hair around my nipples in Milan. I felt tricked.

Now, back in New York, I write at the speed of a cheetah. I want to atone, to forget. Here, I only have one friend, Roger, a heterosexual bottom. He is one of the few men who has managed to overcome so much prejudice, so much acquired role. At first it was hard for him to find girls who’d top him, until he decided to open a dildo shop near my street. Since then, he hooks up as much as he wants, and even more. Someday the world will understand that an equal score is the best option.

I said I don’t believe in conventional relationships, but this doesn’t prevent me from loving. At least for the past five years. His name is Charles. I met him one day when it was raining torrentially. I was waiting under the awning of Roger’s shop when a stranger took refuge at my side. His eyes crossed the flooded street. I offered to accompany him to the other side of the street with my umbrella, and from that moment I haven’t been able to leave his side. That night, his blue eyes shone like the last blue eyes in the world and I discovered that beauty is the sum of goodness plus happiness, and nothing more.

My fingers played with the moon tattooed on his forearm. Our blessed sexes smiled, still wet. Our initial hours were very intense. I confessed to him that as a Latin man, I had often felt marginalized. I cried in his arms, as I hadn’t done since Adam. Color doesn’t matter, only purity, Charles whispered to me. And I, who had always thought myself the lame child of Hamelin, suddenly leaped up and discovered that all I needed to say was inside of me, not outside.

For the past five years, the man of my dreams has been growing in my private garden. It’s difficult to put into words, but sometimes I see through his eyes and I’m taken by surprise. It’s love, says Charles. I don’t like that term: I prefer to be moved by a mimosa tree in bloom and find myself thinking about him. Love is a garden that has to be cared for, he says. An equal score. And the garden will survive us, he says, it’s our project. Let’s take care of it until the end.

Looking for the JOSH #1 ?

2009-07-11T10:28:00.001-04:00

Our friend Andrew at Proun in Chicago reports a few remaining issues of the JOSH Issue #1 are available on their website.

PROUN is a not-for-profit shop that produces, stocks, and distributes limited edition, independent art books, monographs, zines, and records specializing in art, photography, gay, skater culture, and experimental music.

Check out their website for a great selection of beautiful stuff!

Original Text from Issue # 2 of the JOSH: Speaking Through Bodies - by Ivan Acebo-Choy

2009-07-07T23:55:00.004-04:00

SPEAKING THROUGH BODIES by Iván Acebo–Choy

Picture two naked guys screwing each other in the middle of a barely lit room. One of them, the top, is not only setting the rhythm of the act; he uses his body to cover, to direct, to master. The other guy, the bottom, uses his body to please himself; he receives, he is aware of himself as a receptacle, as the genesis of desire. Then, add to the picture a dozen guys watching the scene in silence. They can barely see each other, make out faces, say anything. All they care about is the spectacle of sex, the wonderful feeling of witnessing the perks of being queer. Now, think about the bulk of contemporary queer art. Remember the luscious bodies, the enthralling colors, the daring images, the political statements and the satiric tones. Everything from Act Up to Slava Mogutin. What do these things have in common?

THE SPECTACLE OF SEX

A few weeks ago, a friend and I went to an infamous bar in downtown Mexico City. It occupies an entire three-story house of white bare walls and pale lights. Every corner of the place is available for exploration. There are screens on the walls displaying vintage porn films, the techno music resonates in every nook, and there are specially designated areas for the display of sex. My friend and I grabbed a few drinks and headed to a seating area. To our surprise, the area was already occupied by a couple of naked guys having passionate sex on one of the leather sofas. The lack of illumination made it difficult to make out faces, to discern identities; all we could see was the couple going at it, completely unfazed by us or the other ten people who walked into the room. Nobody turned away. We all stood watching, weaving that heavy silence of fascination and pleasure that the couple used, indeed, to keep feeding their own fire. Such a scene made me think: homos, more than anybody else, rejoice in the act of watching others and themselves. Being queer is the act of being all body in the darkness, all scene and fascination with the materiality of our desires.

Unlike feminists (gay and straight), homos love exploring the body for the sake of it. While feminists are busy trying to reconfigure the gaze that has controlled and defined the female body since antiquity (through the deconstruction, reinvention and appropriation of symbols, either sexual or not), homos insist on objectifying their bodies as the projection of their identities. While art historians consolidate the white heterosexual male eye as the point of reference in the History of Art, homos base their differences on the materiality of sex and the idea of a universal sexual experience as a way of being. Homos look to enjoy the (forbidden) pleasure of the male anatomy as though it still were a deadly act.

WHAT BODIES WANT TO SAY

As I browse through gay art magazines, online photography blogs, records of queer interventions and new histories of art, I see naked men, oversized penises, and men kissing or masturbating. I see men watching themselves, perusing other men, or posing to be watched. We homos have recurred to our bodies as a projection of our voices: that is all we have left.

Social control over queer bodies has been ruthless and effective; desire, that mysterious thing, remains the wild beast. Homos enjoy watching other homos because the body is the key to communicate with the (gay) world. Even the dark room was born to quench the necessity of queer expression; homos had to go underground and recognize themselves in the darkness: they were forced to play the game of love with the groping hand, the sweaty back, and the reluctant lips. They don’t explore the body to understand themselves; they merely expose it, they admire it, they talk through it because there is no time for dialogue in the darkness. That is what Michelangelo, Mapplethorpe, Warhol, and Tom of Finland have done, and what Gilbert & George, Pierre et Gilles, Morimura, François Sagat and hundreds of other artists are doing. They look at the Homo not as an opportunity to dissect and see inside him. For queer artists, homos are, homos love, homos fuck. Homos act instead of being acted upon, and their bodies are the mere reflection of that situation: they resist manipulation to consolidate themselves in the apparent abjection of desire and pleasure. Homos are part of a reality show.

What the sex scene at the bar and queer art have in common, then, is spectacle. Like the bottom, queer art receives the gazes to impact our sexual self-consciousness. We don’t care if the guy is red, green or brown or if there isn’t enough light to see him: there is a gay man willing to engage our inner desires. Like the top, queer art directs our attention to several aspects of queer-ness: sexual loneliness, emotional loneliness, social loneliness. Both work to probe our identities, to construct our sensualities, to support our continuous struggle to achieve climax. Nakedness is our strategy and to succeed we need that which we cannot live without: the body of another man.

Photo by Jesse Finley Reed

www.thejoshmag.com

El Jardín de las Delicias by Carlos Be

2009-07-06T17:24:00.003-04:00

El Jardín de las Delicias

by Carlos Be

Me retiré de la partida al descubrir las primeras canas alrededor de mis pezones. Acabé de abotonarme la camisa, le di la espalda al espejo y salí de la habitación. El amasijo de cuerpos desnudos tiritaba sobre la cama. Sólo una mano abierta me pidió, en silencio, volver con ellos, pero el gesto se fundió enseguida en aquel tumulto de carne. El conserje del hotel no medió palabra conmigo y, con la maleta bajo el brazo, abandoné Milán.

En Nueva York la vida de las aceras se convierte en un atentado continuo a la intimidad. Nada se resiste al embate de la marabunta e incluso la razón de ser se extravía, sobre todo por las noches. Los hombres perdidos recorren laberintos oscuros y se acompañan entre sí hasta que la razón regresa a casa de madrugada, por su propio pie, y les sorprende balanceándose entre las sábanas, grita y les separa.

Como latino, el calor –y el sudor– aúlla por mi sangre. Con veinticinco años, ya sabía devastar esperanzas con un simple desprecio de ojos y no creía en la pareja tradicional, menos aún en la Polla Universal. Y quería entrar en DTdL. Se lo consulté a mi novio de entonces, Adam, y estuvo de acuerdo. ¿Por qué no?, me dijo. Se iniciaba la partida.

Contacté con DTdL a través de un foro en Yahoo! Groups. DTdL es el acrónimo de la organización De Tuin der Lusten. Celebran cuatro convenciones al año, siempre en una ciudad europea distinta. Recuerdo parte del proceso de admisión, algunas de las pruebas. Te citan en una cafetería y el Funcionario –así se presenta– extiende sobre de la mesa una hoja con una silueta humana pintada y pide que la completes. Si comienzas por los ojos, eres un tipo listo. Si por el cabello, narcisista. Si te entretienes en los dedos, falto de afecto... Recuerdo que en el antebrazo de la figura quise dibujar un viaje, no sé por qué, qué ocurrencia, pero no supe cómo trazar algo tan abstracto y me bloqueé. Y la salva de preguntas: cinco rasgos que te gusten en un hombre, y cinco ademanes. Mis respuestas: Los ojos claros, la frente franjada de arrugas, la mano en reposo entre los muslos abiertos... Adam hacía lo mismo en otra cafetería a trescientos kilómetros de allí. Los dos Funcionarios lo anotaron todo en sus cuadernos con tapas azul marino y antes de despedirse, dijeron que en breve nos informarían del resultado y así fue. La carta llegó un domingo de noviembre. En su interior, el sexport y un par de billetes para Luxemburgo. Ninguno de los dos estábamos preparados para aquella convención. Aún no lo sabíamos, pero DTdL superaría nuestras expectativas. Aún me estremezco cuando recuerdo la última vez que vi a Adam, su expresión, su intimidad convertida en carnaza de las hienas. Volamos juntos a Luxemburgo y allí le perdí. Regresé solo a Nueva York.

Después de aquella convención, se sucedieron otras. Yo mismo hozaría en muchos costillares, sin saber que cualquier juego acota la búsqueda, es decir, la vida. DTdL se nutre del hambre por las emociones fuera de serie y explota la privacidad, desdeñando las aduanas de la comunicación. Ofrece el exceso al borde del precipicio y promete la doma de todos los deseos imaginables. Tardé en comprender que a nadie le interesa que sepas lo que quieres: te imponen lo que otros quieren... y es tanto. Se trata de ganar o perder y, mientras tanto, una DtDL sin fin te va robando. Y te roba mucho. Te roba incluso el tiempo. Las canas alrededor de mis pezones en Milán. Me sentí embaucado.

Ahora, de vuelta a Nueva York, escribo a la velocidad del guepardo. Quiero expiar, olvidar. Mi único amigo se llama Roger y es heterosexual pasivo. Uno de los pocos hombres que ha sabido superar tanto prejuicio, tanto rol adquirido. Al principio le costaba mucho encontrar novias activas, hasta que decidió abrir una tienda de consoladores cerca de mi calle y desde entonces, liga todo lo que quiere y más. Algún día el mundo entenderá que la mejor opción es el empate.

He dicho que no creo en la pareja convencional, pero ello no me impide amar. Al menos desde hace cinco años. Se llama Charles. Le conocí un día que llovía torrencialmente. Yo esperaba bajo la marquesina de la tienda de Roger cuando un desconocido se refugió a mi lado. Su mirada cruzó la calle inundada. Me ofrecí a acompañarle con el paraguas hasta la otra acera y ya no pude separarme de él. Aquella noche sus ojos azules brillaron como los últimos ojos azules del mundo y descubrí que la bondad con la felicidad suman la belleza, sin más.

Mis dedos se entretenían con la luna tatuada en su antebrazo. Nuestros sexos bendecidos sonreían, aún húmedos. Fueron unas primeras horas muy intensas. Le confesé que, como latino, muchas veces me había sentido marginado. Lloré en sus brazos como no hacía desde Adam. No importa el color, sino su pureza, me susurró Charles y yo, que siempre me había creído el niño cojo de Hamelin, de repente brinqué y descubrí que todo lo que tenía que decir estaba dentro de mí, no afuera.

Desde hace cinco años en mi jardín particular crece el hombre de mis amores. Es complicado contarlo con palabras, pero a veces veo a través de su mirada y me sobrecojo. Es el amor, dice Charles. No me gusta ese término: prefiero emocionarme al ver una mimosa en flor y descubrirme pensando en él. El amor es un jardín que hay que cuidar, dice. El empate. Y el jardín nos sobrevivirá, dice, es nuestra obra. Cuidémosla hasta el final.

http://www.carlosbe.blogspot.com

Photo by Jonny Rueda-Gualdron

www.thejoshmag.com

What is a Queer Picture?

2009-07-05T12:09:00.005-04:00

Queer Pictures - by Joey Orr

What do you think this is a picture of? How do you form your decision? Do you look for cultural signifiers that will mark it in time, such as dress codes or the fact that it is black and white? Do you try to place it geographically based on the observation that it appears to be in an urban environment, or what races, classes and sexes of people seem to be reflected? Do you submit to the reality that because of performance possibilities and software programs, this may have been taken yesterday?

In 2006 when the photograph was first placed in front of me, the sunglassed figure in the suit to the right of center reminded me of the actor James Gandolfini who played mob boss Tony Soprano in the HBO series, The Sopranos, which was about to conclude at the time. I pictured them all as tough guys, maybe even wise guys. They could all take it on the chin. And had, most likely. They are steeled for something it seems. Being seen is a serious affair, and their gaze is filled with defiance.

At least five people are looking directly at the camera. We look into cameras differently depending on the circumstances. I would look differently into a camera for a mug shot than I would into one held by my sister over a birthday cake. Are these people looking serious and ready for business then because of the photographer, or have they conceded to being photographed because of her, and it is the nature of the event that has provoked the mood?

Dr. Margaret Olin took the picture. She is a photographer and a scholar. The picture was taken in 1970 at the first Gay Pride Parade in Chicago. She was young—early twenties at the outset would be my guess. Did she look like a hippy? Did the subjects of the photograph address the camera because there was something about her physical appearance or attitude that communicated she was simpatico? I picture her young and wild and free, riding her bicycle around the city of Chicago, as she still does, but before her practice became so considered, when she could breeze into such circumstances with a camera and be recognized quickly and coolly as part of the effort.

In Roland Barthes’s book Camera Lucida, he discusses the studium and punctum. The studium is the broad cultural meaning of the photograph that we could all mostly agree on. In this case, the studium might be a small public event in an urban space. The punctum, on the other hand, is the idiosyncratic detail that catches an individual’s attention. For myself, I considered the woman with the sneer peering up through the center of the photograph. I have also considered the African American barely visible in the space between the blond woman and the man in sunglasses standing to the right.

The punctum, however, is not supposed to be such a studied affair, and I have to admit I keep returning to the facial expressions of Gandolfini and the man in the tan coat. I want to deny this punctum because these men seem to me to be part of the studium. But it is precisely their ambiguous relation to the event that is compelling. Are they lovers who are unhappy about being photographed because they could lose their jobs, or their wives and children? Are they there in opposition, or even to discover the identity of sexual outlaws and so their defiant poses are born of refusal toward the photographer who now exposes them as unsympathetic toward the event?

I like to think of my two figures as a space where the punctum is the studium. Impossible, of course. What is idiosyncratic and subjective cannot be the element that is available to us all. Perhaps that is the horizon of a queer project, though—to incite discourse without naturalizing it, confound social practices while cultivating politics and undo assumptions even as they accumulate into history.

This is a picture of men and women in a public space. Some of these people may be in jeopardy of losing their jobs and physical injury by virtue of their standing there. Some may be there to police and regulate. The photograph is a historical document in the sense that it is an image of an earlier time in different political and social circumstances. The productive thing about the photograph and the reason I am drawn to it is that the visual cues do not clearly communicate what is taking place to a contemporary audience. Is it a queer picture? How does it function now, in what ways, for whom? Is the meaning of the photograph dependent on the image or how it is proliferated and received?

What do you think this is a picture of?

http://www.joeyorr.com

NYC Zine Fest

2009-06-28T18:18:00.010-04:00

Thanks to everyone who trekked out to the Brooklyn Lyceum yesterday for the NYC Zine Fest http://www.nyczinefest.org

The event featured about 50+ tables, with a diverse selection of zines, artists' books, multiples, badges, posters, and ......peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Check out some of our faves:

www.licketysplitzine.com
http://birdsongmag.com/author/tommypico/
www.markpriceisafactory.com

JOSH # 2 is here!

2009-06-26T18:08:00.017-04:00

JOSH # 2 has arrived!

Our beloved Josh finally decided to make an appearance just a few days into our wet, hot, and sticky summer here in New York.

Despite being all bright and pink, the JOSH is forgoing all NYC Pride happenings in Manhattan this weekend and heading straight out to the Brooklyn Lyceum for the NYC Zine Fest 09.

Issue # 2 features a sizzling hot line-up of artists, photographers, and writers from across the globe:

Iván Acebo–Choy

Nina Arsenault

Vivien Ayroles

Samuel Bair

Carlos Be

Dino Dinco

Jason Driskill

Devin Elijah

Sean Fader

Nathaniel Fink (cover artist)

Jesse Finley Reed

Janine Gordon

Robert Remarque Grund

Henry Hinterland

Michael C. Hsiung

Terence Koh

Graham Kolbeins

Josh Levy

Logan MacDonald

Stefano Marchionini

Billy Miller

Slava Mogutin

Xavier Ng

Joey Orr

Jonny Rueda-Gualdron

Stuart Sandford

Stanley Stellar

Aaron Tilford

Come visit us at Billy Miller’s Straight to Hell table at the NYC Zine Fest this Saturday and Sunday, June 26-27th.

Did You Get My Message? -- Issue #2 of the JOSH is Coming Soon (Really!)

2009-06-17T22:00:00.011-04:00

Did you hear the news? Did you get my message? Issue # 2 of the JOSH is coming soon. Our (late) Spring 2009 issue features an amazing line-up of artists, photographers, and writers from across the globe. The new JOSH is bigger, pinker, and sexier than ever! Check out our main website and subscribe to this blog for updates on when and where the new issue will be available.

the JOSH at Silverman Gallery, San Francisco

2008-12-28T21:33:00.001-05:00

(originally posted 11/21/08)

Go West, young HOMO! We are pleased to announce that the JOSH is now available at the Silverman Gallery in San Francisco. In addition to a fine collection of art and photography, Silverman Gallery also features a selection of artist publications.

On the history of Bruce of LA's Hotel Trunk Shows

2008-12-28T21:28:00.006-05:00

(originally posted on 11/20/08)

We had great fun on Saturday evening at the debut of the Arts & Sciences PROJECTS Trunk Show at the Hotel Chelsea.

To celebrate the launch of the JOSH, we decided to pay homage to the pioneering gay photographer Bruce of Los Angeles by re-embracing and re-contextualizing his 1950s-era traveling hotel trunk shows. Bruce’s private, invitation only trunk shows not only offered a venue to sell his magazines and risque photographs, they nurtured a sense of community and connection for gay and closeted men in a time of repression and post-war machismo.

With the debut of our new trunk show we continue Bruce of LA’s tradition of promoting a community of men by coming together at the Hotel Chelsea to launch the JOSH and enjoy great art.

For those who have expressed interest and/or didn’t get a chance to pick up a copy of the essay to accompany the trunk show exhibit, here it is:

On the Road Again: Bruce of LA’s Hotel Trunk Show at the Hotel Chelsea, New York, November 15, 2008

Go West Young Man

Before embarking on his career in male figure photography, Bruce Bellas, more famously known as Bruce of Los Angeles, worked as a chemistry teacher in Nebraska. In 1947, he moved to Los Angeles and began photographing male bodybuilders on the beach.

Over the course of a highly productive three decades of capturing the beauty of the male form, Bellas fused technical mastery, classical elegance, and campy wit into a distinct visual style. His aesthetic paved the way for contemporary explorations of the male form as seen in the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, and Bruce Weber.

From 1956-1966, Bellas edited and published The Male Figure, a quarterly magazine featuring wholesome young men with toned, muscular bodies. Ostensibly marketed towards physique enthusiasts, art students, and artists, The Male Figure gained a loyal following among gay men and men with a secret passion for the male form. Indeed, with the success of The Male Figure, Bellas was able to buy a home on Kensington Road in a suburban community outside Los Angeles, where he set up a studio in his garage and staged his models in his private and perfectly manicured back yard.

In addition to the physique pictorials featured in The Male Figure, Bellas offered readers the opportunity to purchase more risqué photographs, 3-D slides, and films through mail order. His Private File catalogue offered male nudes, some with clear evidence of erotic arousal. Distribution of this type of material became problematic in the 1950’s due to strict U.S. postal restrictions against mailing images deemed to be “obscene” because of male frontal nudity.

Hotel Trunk Shows

As a clever and motivated entrepreneur, Bellas overcame this obstacle by personally delivering his work to customers via hotel “trunk shows”, where he transformed common hotel suites into gallery spaces to exhibit, promote, and sell his work. The rooms also served as a safe place for men to convene and share in their passion for Bellas’ work.

Bellas meticulously planned the details of the hotel trunk shows. Interested men would write to Bellas and ask to be added to the mailing list for his special gatherings. In preparation for his road trips, Bellas would send a note to his clients, notifying them of the approximate dates that he would be in town. If interested, the client would respond to Bellas by letter and include a telephone number. Shortly after checking into his hotel suite, Bellas would contact his clients, informing them of the hotel name, room number, and time of gathering.

Little is known about what transpired at these private hotel events. Nevertheless, the spirit of risk-taking, adventure, and community fostered by Bellas continues to prevail today as a new generation of photographers and artists employs novel techniques and technologies to capture and share the beauty of the male form.

Historical documents in this exhibit include a copy of a 1964 letter written by New Yorker David Strand, requesting to be added to Bruce’s “select” list; a form letter sent to David Strand announcing a Bruce of LA trip to New York City in “approximately early September”; and a handwritten note that reads “Bruce Belles (sic), Park Sheraton - 7th + 55th, Room 210.”

Also featured are vintage copies of Male Figure, and Kensington Road and Private File catalogues.

_______________________

Archival documents courtesy of the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation, New York, NY. Bruce of Los Angeles vintage prints courtesy of Clampart, New York, NY. Male Figure, Kensington Road, and Private File catalogues courtesy of a private collection.

the JOSH at Quimby's

2008-12-28T20:57:00.004-05:00

(originally posted 11/05/08)

Chicago is so in now. First comes Barack Obama. And today we heard that Rahm Emanuel is at the top of the list for White House Chief of Staff. And now....the JOSH. Yes, the JOSH is available at Quimby’s.