Ross Watson opens his annual exhibition in Sydney this Tuesday evening 23rd February. Ross exhibits every year to coincide with Mardi Gras and I always love going along to see new work and revisiting some of his older work.
The exhibition closes on Saturday March 6th, the day of the official party marking the end of Mardi Gras. It will be held at The Depot Gallery, 2 Danks Street Waterloo. Those of you in the area or not working can also meet Matthew Mitcham at the exhibition on Wednesday 3rd March between 11am and 1pm.
Ross Watson has just unveiled his beautiful portrait of Matthew Mitcham, as well as these photos of Matthew and Marco Da Silva. The portrait of Matthew is so rich and vibrant and in recognition of Matthew’s contribution to the gay community and sport, the painting has been reserved by the National Portrait Gallery.
For a long time now, I’ve thought that by and large, full frontal nudity in photography is distracting. Sure, in porn, erotic and voyeuristic photography it’s what it’s all about but in art photography, cock just gets in the way of most people’s appreciation of an otherwise beautiful photograph. Our eyes immediately zoom in on the crotch of the model and judge him mercilessly on the size of his appendage.
There’s no denying I love looking at photos of cock, but even in some erotic photography, I prefer some mystery and tease. It’s much more exciting wondering if you are going to find out what a guy is hiding rather than having it all laid out like a buffet.
Having said all this, I came across this guy on modelmayhem. He goes by J Gregory and quite frankly if I had an appendage like that I’d be getting it out too. He says it’s 9 inches long but I’m sorry to say guys, he’s a straight boy and living proof that straight boys are doing some grooming these days!
Our Olympic Diving golden boy, Matthew Mitcham has just modelled for Australian Painter and Photographer, Ross Watson and will be featured in paintings and photographic artworks to be released in the near future. Matt has kept a relatively low profile since his Olympic glory, focusing on training and life in general.
A new Ross Watson painting has also just set a new record for a Ross Watson original, selling for AU$38,000. Not a bad little earner I have to say. The painting isn’t my favourite of Ross’ work, but it provides an interesting contradiction between old and modern forms of communication.
Bruce Denny is an Englishmen trying to get people to think about how we interact. His first exhibition “Humanity” stripped back the pretense of societ showcasing his figures moulded from clay and cast in Bronze. Now with his second exhibition “Interaction” he’s taking it a step further, posing his sculptures in groups and pairs to see how that stripped back person, devoid of armour, might interact with others in the same situation.
Bruce uses fitness and fashion models to find the figures that he prefers to sculpt rather than the traditional life drawing model. He then works from photographs to sculpt the figures before finally creating them in bronze. They have a very natural look about their poses and looks. It would be quite haunting to see them all in a room interacting.
The exhibition runs for most of October in London.
One day, likely in a time far removed from where I am now, I plan on being in a position to spend up big on art. Sure there are artists who come to mind for a lot of people, like Warhol, Picasso etc that anyone with serious cash would like to buy, but my goals, at least initially are a bit more patriotic.
My favourite photographer, and my two favourite painters are all actually living and are all Australian. Maybe it’s some strange sense of patriotism kicking in, or maybe it’s just that these three living, gay, Australians capture images that reflect the way I see, or would like to see the world.
I’m lucky enough to own a print of a Ross Watson piece, but I dream of having an original painting in my possession one day. Somewhere nearby will be a James Houston photograph and also featuring will be Jeffrey Smart, a living legend in the Australian painting world. It’s nice to dream. One day…
As much as I’m enjoying my own photography there are others out there so much more daring than I’m willing to be. Some artists put so much of themselves out on display for criticism or praise, both emotionally and physically, and Peter Breen is one of them.
Peter is an artist and photographer based in London and his work could be seen by some as self indulgent but I disagree. For me it’s an artist using himself as his muse and canvas and exploring all sorts of ideas in various forms of photography. Peter manipulates gender and masculinity, experimenting with makeup, costume, indoor and outdoor photos of himself and his surrounds. His blog, appropriately titled Narcissus Gazed, is a treasure trove of imagery. Stay tuned, Peter has quite an interesting story and I’m hoping to do an interview.
The Classic De Novo exhibition is about to take Berlin by storm with Ross Watson unveiling the new piece (above left) at the exhibition which is to be opened with a special appearance of one of Ross’ models, porn start Alex Baressi. Those of you in or near Berlin should go and see his work. I know one of my readers doesn’t seem to like Ross’ work, but I know I do.
Londoners wandering their beautiful city yesterday were treated to over 2,000 happy faces floating through the city. They were the work of artist Stuart Semple who decided that the “installation” piece was what was needed in these times of doom and gloom. The happy clouds were biodegradable and environmentally safe and they sure as hell would have brought a smile to my face.
Tonight I was lucky enough to go along to the opening drinks for Ross Watson’s Classic De Novo exhibition, open from today til March 7. Being the chronically on-time person that I am, I was one of the first to arrive. It was a very laid back affair and I was lucky enough to once again chat to Ross and his partner Stephen.
They welcomed me as if I was an old friend which was very sweet, especially considering some of the A-List company they keep from time to time. I very much enjoyed the new works as much as I’ve enjoyed past work and hearing where the themes came from and how they’ve been woven together directly from the artist was nice. It was also fun being able to ask Stephen if he was allowed to have any favourites and which pieces they were. I commented that I only realised a couple of years ago that two of my favourite artists are both living, Australian and gay.
Head along to Depot II in Danks St, Waterloo to have a look at the exhibition. One day I plan on having the earning capacity to buy an original of Ross’, and maybe from my other favourite artist, Aussie Jeffrey Smart.
I’ve been lucky enough to score an invitation on Tuesday night to the opening of Ross Watson’s Classic De Novo exhibition in Dank St Sydney. The last two years, when Ross has exhibited in Sydney for Mardi Gras I wasn’t working full time so got to go at my own leisurely time and wander through a very quiet gallery while everyone else was at work. So it’s a nice surprise to be invited along to the opening night.
Ross and his partner are lovely to chat to and I’m hoping I get a chance to say hi to them on the night. Fingers crossed there will alsoo be a couple of Ross’ hot models there as well.
Lichtfaktor is a German art collective using light to create art. Using light in art is nothing new, it’s the basis of photography but these artists take it to the next level painting with light in ways that utilise the natural landscapes or their immediate environment to create a story. In this case they’ve created thousands of individual images to put together a video of a forest overrun with creatures created by light. It’s quite an astonishing and beautiful video!
From everything I’ve read, seen and heard, Confest is about as close to a Burning Man vibe as Australia gets. It’s got the usual suspects of fire twirlers, hippies, musicians, dreadlocks, artists and as you can see, naked people. I’m not quite sure when or where it is or what the story is at all, but I know these people look like they are having a great time.
If there are any readers out there who have been to confest and have a story to tell, I’d love to hear it.
From the time of Da Vinci and Michaelangelo, the nude figure study has been a staple of art and with those two and many other leading art figures being gay, art history is filled with sketches, paintings and sculptures of beautiful nude men.
The “ideals” of the perfect man have changed over the years and provide an interesting history of the changing tastes in figures and grooming habits. These are all very modern examples of the male nude study obviously looking at the styles and the muscled gym bodies of the subjects.
I posed for a painter last year who works from photographs and it’s definitely something I enjoyed doing. I’d love to do it again and if there are any artists out there looking for a subject, let me know!
Late in November, Angelo is bringing another exhibition of his beautiful manscapes to Sydney. Come along to the Blank Space Gallery in Surry Hills to check them out!
