Unable -- or refuse -- to grow up? If you're in New York City this weekend indulge your inner child and head to Kid Robot's MUNNYWORLD custom toy exhibit at the Eloquent Delinquents Gallery, 41 Wooster Street, NYC.
The three day event, running from November 13-15, celebrates the launch of Kid Robot's all-new do-it-yourself toy line at the world's most prestigious custom vinyl extravaganza and will feature over sixty international artists.
To ensure you get first dibs on the collectible pieces you can't live without, drop by the opening night party on Thursday, November 12, from 8-10 pm. There will be DJs, drinks, and the chance to meet some of the most important artists in the game.
Today we bring you two honorees from the 2009 "School Days" Out 100 -- this year's look at the 100 gay, lesbian, and trans people who have impacted gay and mainstream culture in the past 12 months -- Kehinde Wiley and Bebe Zahara Benet.
Since finishing an MFA at Yale in 2001, the New York–based artist Wiley (above, left) has shot to meteoric critical and commercial success, fusing highbrow art and hip-hop culture by recreating classic late-Renaissance portraits with young men plucked from city streets. In September, his show “Black Light” debuted at Deitch Projects, following the publication of a monograph of the same name.
Nea Marshall Kudi’s drag persona, Bebe Zahara Benet (above, right) was born when, while working a Parisian runway, the male model was asked to fill in for female models who’d gone MIA. Raised in the West African Republic of Cameroon, Marshall took the pole position on RuPaul’s Drag Race in March and is preparing to release his first EP.
We'll continue to roll out more honorees from the 2009 Out 100 in the coming days and in mid-November the full portfolio, shot by renowned photographer Jason Bell, will be available in stores and online.
Don’t be fooled. While those looking for men in skivvies won’t be disappointed, there’s a lot more to this artful, minimal blog. A showcase for photos pilfered from all over the place, the site presents images without text.
Context or no, the images -- whether they are candid shots of straight boys mooning guests at a party, a boxer weighing in naked before a fight, or a photo of the gay hanky code as posted in an S.F. leather shop circa 1979 -- are all compelling in their ability to amuse, arouse, remind, or inspire.
The best part? A new set (admittedly one or two often repeat) appears every time you refresh. Bookmark this time waster now.
From left to right: Sage Salzer, Kenny Kenny, Olan Montgomery, Gazelle, and a party-goer
The opening of the month-long “Mom & POP” exhibit at Soho’s Ward-Nasse Gallery -- featuring works from pop artist Olan Montgomery’s new book POP: Art inspired by New York’s own subcultures from celebrity to subway -- was a mob of art fags and scene queens, many of whom have been the subjects of this downtown painter’s oeuvres.
Montgomery gained notoriety for his photograph commemorating the closing of the iconic Meatpacking district restaurant Florent. “That was a real pig’s head we used!” said Gazelle, the drag artist from the photo.
“That looks like me!” squealed former club kid and nightlife queen Kenny Kenny, referring to the “Prima Ballerina” shot in Montgomery’s coffeetable-topper. Inspired by photographs, the artist paints other big celebs like Alan Cumming, Jack Nicholson and Rufus Wainwright, but also local dignitaries like Amanda LePore, Richie Rich, and Kevin Aviance, who made an appearance donning earrings bigger than my head.
A pair of German art historians think there's more to the story of Vincent Van Gogh's ear than meets the eye. In a new book, aptly titled Van Gogh's Ear, Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans claim the artist Paul Gauguin lopped off the painter's ear with a fencing sword, either in a fit of rage or self-defense, and that it was the incident, not a more generalized madness, that drove Van Gogh to commit suicide two years later. (Not in dispute is the fact that Van Gogh gifted the severed flesh to a prostitute -- lucky girl).
Whether or not the wound was self-inflicted, it happened just as or after Gauguin was leaving
Van Gogh's house after a tumultous visit that may or may not have been sexually charged. In any case, this wasn't your average bro throwdown. According to Kaufmann and Wildegans, the two tortured artists upheld a pact of secrecy after the incident -- "Gauguin to avoid prosecution and Van Gogh in a vain attempt to keep a friend with whom he was hopelessly infatuated." --JESSANNE COLLINS
For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted a tattoo. Since I started pestering my mom about getting inked when I was 14, she's threatened to a) instantly suffer a full on foaming-at-the-mouth-seizure and then b) refuse to have anything to do with me once she's recovered.
Now that I'm old enough to know she's just being dramatic (I think?) and smart enough to get the tattoo somewhere she'll never have to see it, I'm considering taking the big plunge. Sure, it's permanent -- and that's kind of scary. But I'm banking on the fact that I'll a) love my tattoo I'd never want it removed and b) in 10 years scientists will probably have developed some kind of baby wipe that'll easily get rid of unwanted ink.
When I was growing up, I was arguably the gayest creature on the planet. While my brothers were busy waging otherworldly wars with their action figures, I spent my time trying to get He-Man's plastic furry underwear off. My parents were probably (certainly?) befuddled by their up-and-coming queer, but God bless 'em, they never batted an eyelash or let on that anything was "wrong," which is quite a feat considering I grew up in Wisconsin in the early '80s.
My favorite toys were My Little Ponies. I must have had 12 or 14 of them -- unicorn ponies and pegasus ponies and sea horses ponies you could take in the bathtub. Pink ponies and mint green ponies and ponies that smelled like cotton candy and ponies that were dipped in glitter. One Christmas when I awoke to find the My Little Pony stable sitting under our tree I thought I'd died and gone to little homo heaven.
So when I ran across artist Mari Kasurinen's AMAZING cinematic takes on My Little Ponies I almost wet my faux leather office (full disclosure: cubicle) chair. Kasurinen has taken the beloved ponies of my youth and turned them into Storm Troopers and Edward Scissorhands, the Joker from Batman, and my personal favorite, the alien from Alien. As if the very concept wasn't genius enough -- the execution is just as brilliant. The ponies are available for purchase for around $400 which seems like a small price to pay to be transported back to my youth without having to catch a flight to Wisco to rifle through my mother's attic.
Popnog reader Brandon Middleton took our plea for public penis art from around the country seriously and sent in this fine specimen he happened upon near Lake Merced in San Francisco.
Lovely find, Brandon. Now -- the rest of you slackers -- get out there and start trolling the back alleys and back woods of your respective hometowns and send us some phallus photos!
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