It may come as a surprise that NOT that many gay artists produce blatantly homoerotic artwork.  At least this is true for artists who are established enough to be “players” on the international art scene, such as the ones who show in the Chelsea galleries.  So take advantage of my Sat. May 12 LGBT gallery tour, where one featured exhibit will be a gay artist’s large-scale paintings of nude and semi-nude chiseled male athletes.  HOT.  And innovative, as you’ll see for yourself.

This particular gay artist’s uniqueness is that he “channels” four different artists who work in different styles from different time eras, and produces all the paintings himself.   Only one of these channeled artists is gay, and his is the bulk of the artwork we’ll see on the tour.  It consists of 30 oil-on-canvas works of college-age male athletes, mostly wrestlers and crew members (as in boat racers), appearing in competition at their sport, or showering post-event.  The “channeled” gay artist has an invented bio that states he died at the age of 40 in a tragic wrestling accident.  Nevertheless, his works continue to be “discovered,” and the current show is the latest ones to be unearthed.  The style of the paintings evokes that of turn-of-the-20th-century closeted gay artist Thomas Eakins, who was known to have had sexual liaisons with college-aged male athletes himself.

This is just one of 7 shows on this tour, another one being an HIV+ artist’s other-worldly sculptures that he uses when leading gay men’s healing rituals at weekend retreats.  We’ll also see a different artist’s fascinating collaged photos of drag queens and handsome male models.

Whenever I announce a blatantly homoerotic exhibit on a tour, the event is particularly well-attended and festive.  Besides seeing new art from some of the world’s most outstanding gay artists, you’ll get a chance to socialize with culturally adventurous gay people.  It’s a win-win.

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D.
Founder and Director
New York GalleryTours