Morgan is a young man with a dream. That dream is to get naked all over the world and jump up and down. He says his aim is to blur the lines between exhibitionism and art and eventually have an exhibition of his adventures. Morgan looks like a laugh to hang out with that’s for sure. Check out Morgan’s fundraising site here.
Morgan Tepsic’s Naked Stop-Motion Extravaganza! from Morgan Tepsic on Vimeo.
Ross Watson unveiled two new paintings of Matthew Mitcham our gold medal winning diver who recently continued his form scoring TWO perfect tens at a recent competition. In one of the new works, Matt has even ditched the speedos! It seems that this collaboration is one they both enjoyed and is yielding some good results for Ross.
Felix D’eon is an artist, born in Mexico and living in San Francisco, seemingly living an idyllic life painting, photographing and seducing beautiful men, going to nude gatherings and enjoying a very relaxed lifestyle.
I just discovered his blog and was quite taken with his art. It’s simplistic almost classic “antique” looking paintings and drawings but with a cast of young nude men probably not seen in centuries past. It makes me feel like posing for another artist. I did pose for one a couple of years ago and it’s something I like the idea of doing more of. You know, because nudity is such a foreign concept for me! ;)
Ross Watson’s latest work depicts porn superstar Francois Sagat in place of the “Crucifixion of St Peter” in a work inspired by the Vatican’s stance on condom use promoting HIV. Ross decided to use Francois because of his work in HIV Prevention. This piece has also set a new record for the sale of Ross’ originals at $42,000. Well done Ross.
In other Ross Watson news, German publisher Bruno Gmunder is set to publish a book of Ross’ work spanning 20 years.
I stumbled across this great idea a couple of weeks ago but forgot to post it until now.
Artbank is a government organisation that supports emerging artists by collecting contemporary art and renting it out to companies and private homes and reinvests the proceeds into the collection. Artbank has been operating for 30 years now and has over 10,000 artworks on offer from paintings, drawings and photography to contemporary art and sculpture as well as a large collection of indigenous art.
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.
