Thomas Jackson’s Swarms

Via This Is Colossal, I found these photos by Thomas Jackson, a new conceptual series based on swarms, shot around New York.

According to This Is Colossal, these photos are just “sketches” for when Jackson starts the series in earnest. I can’t imagine how they’d get any better.

All photos in this post by Thomas Jackson.

Scattered Crowd, by William Forsythe

Sometimes, something very simple can be used to create a fantastic art installation. This is called Scattered Crowd, by William Forsythe. The effect is created with nothing more than white balloons, hung in varied places with classic architecture.

You can see more photos at this link, along with a video (the video is nice because it gives you a sense of the music that accompanies the installation).

A Boy’s Story is the Best That is Ever Told, by Bruce Weber

This is an older editorial (I think it was published in or around December of 2008), but it’s so fantastic that when I found it, I just had to feature it.

It’s called A Boy’s Story is the Best That is Ever Told and it was photographed by superstar photographer, Bruce Weber, for Arena Homme Plus magazine.

The series features a variety of models, including Indiana-born and raised Aaron O’Connell (my favorite model, right now [and he's naked, I have to add]), soccer players Mark Huntley and Mark Carroll, Peter Johnson, Cory Bond, former Navy man turned model Doug Porter, and Swedish karate coach Imazaki Seijo.

All photos in this post by Bruce Weber.

Horsehead

I found this photo on Tumblr, linked on one of Jeremy Lucido’s page, called, Guys I’d Fuck.

I have to confess, it is simultaneously creeping me out and turning me on at the same time.

Dream Love Live by James Demitri

To celebrate the launch of their new website, the guys at teamm8 underwear commissioned a photo series by James Demitri called Dream Love Live, Part 1.

The series features a 25 year old fitness expert named Jesse. I love the timelessness of these photos (I can’t figure out which I look at more, the car or the model). I hope the “Part 1″ in the name means there will be a Part 2!

You can see more photos from the series on this website. All photos in this post by James Demitri.

Porn Stars Chip Tanner and Reese Rideout Dance for Gender Equality

Chip Tanner notes that many of his YouTube videos are flagged and deleted as being inappropriate, even when other videos of women doing the same thing are left online. Facebook is also notoriously homophobic and discriminatory against men: I’ve had my photos deleted by Facebook multiple times for “nudity” (this, despite the fact that I have never posted a nude photo on Facebook). The deleting is always followed by a sanctimonious email about how the Mark Zimmerman police want to keep Facebook “safe for everybody.” And then, 10 minutes later I find some skanky girl in a bikini rolling around on the hood of a car. That, apparently, meets Facebook’s standards.

To prove his point, Chip Tanner made a new video with Reese Rideout.

I’m sure that somehow this is related to the article I posted on Wednesday. I don’t think that Facebook and YouTube are homophobic, in practice; it’s more likely that viewers are flagging the videos and Facebook and YouTube have shitty review standards and deleting things are aren’t really offensive. It speaks to the core of the article: Attach a penis to something that’s a bit provocative and it suddenly becomes dirty.

Here’s another video by Chip and Reese.

The Male Nude, Explored

Here is a link to a great BBC article about an art exhibition in Vienna that’s focusing on the male nude, and causing a bit of a controversy (even in relatively progressive Austria).

Below is an excerpt:

“It’s quite unusual for an exhibition to focus on the depiction of the male nude. Surprisingly we had many exhibitions dealing with the female nude body, but so far never an exhibition which features the male nude. Somehow it is a taboo.

“On the other hand, we see that the male nude is getting a new presence in modern contemporary society. He is now on posters, he is on stages, he is getting more and more normal.”

An image of naked woman is still regarded in a very different light from that of a naked man, Natter says.

Exploration of our society’s taboos and ethics is one of the factors that made me decide to shoot male nudes. In fact, the following statement has been on my photo site since the day it launched: I shoot the male nude form because it irritates me that thousands of years after the Greeks were carving nude statues of Apollo and Poseidon, today a male figure study is often dismissed as pornography. I believe that the human body is beautiful and I’d like to play a part in changing that stereotype.

I’m a little surprised that even in Europe, the male nude is considered taboo. Below is a poster by Pierre et Gilles of three footballers that was created for the exhibit, which caused enough of an outcry on the streets of Vienna that the museum put red sashes across the models’ private parts. (Kind of defeats the purpose for an exhibit about nudes, doesn’t it?)

Maybe things are changing, and maybe they’re not. I’m noticing more and more male nudity in movies and TV, but people are still funny about it. Just by saying the word “penis,” you can almost send some people through the roof; five minutes later, that same person might be talking about boobs. I’ve had so many people refer to my photography as “dirty pictures” that it hardly phases me anymore. Some people have even told me that my artwork is acceptable in France, but not in the USA.

And yet we American consume more porn than anyone.

Here’s another excerpt from the BBC article, which might explain it in a way that I hadn’t thought about before:

“Male nudity is very often linked to the exposure of sexual organs – the penis – and this is often done in a way that responds to the classical model of aggression and strength.

“While the sexual organ in itself does not necessarily have to appear as threatening or aggressive, the difference from the dominant model of soft female nudity is great.”

The male nude is more aggressive? I can see that. But that shouldn’t mean it’s something to be afraid of.

I’d encourage you to read the whole article.

New York, November 2012 (GLAAD Art Auction)

I know this is a photo blog, but forgive me for the quality of the photos attached to this post. I only pulled out my real camera once during the whole trip. These were all taken on my camera phone.

We arrived in New York late Thursday night. We got to my friend Patrick’s place about 11:30, and then stayed up until 2am talking to Patrick and another friend, Byrne.

Friday, my friends and I had lunch and spent the afternoon with my my friend and photography mentor’s apartment. I could spend a week listening to the stories of Michael Alago. These first two photos were taken from Michael’s balcony.

After lunch, Michael took us to see the Keith Haring bathroom in the New York LGBT Community Center. I didn’t even know this place existed. Haring made the mural just a few months before he died of AIDS.

Since we were in the neighborhood, the Indiana contingency decided to celebrate a bit more of our gay history and have a drink at The Stonewall Inn. Here I am with my good friends Kevin, Jared, and Doug.

And then, we had to swing through Times Square, mostly so Jared could see it (this was his first trip to New York).

Saturday, we went to the Top of the Rock. It’s surprisingly peaceful up there.

This photo doesn’t show it, but you can even see the Statue of Liberty from Rockefeller Center. I had no idea.

The only downside is that the view of the Chrysler Building is cut off.

After Top of the Rock, we went to SoHo for some shopping, and then after dark we went to my favorite bar in New York, Top of the Strand. It’s a rooftop bar atop a great hotel. Here is the view.

Sunday, Kevin and Doug and I had a great brunch at a place called Eatery, and then we walked part of Central Park.

And then Sunday night was the GLAAD Art Auction. Here I am, near one of my photographs, with Jared, Jodi, Kevin, and Doug.

At the Auction, we cut loose more than in previous years. There was wine, and dancing, and other varied impropriety. Here I am at the end of the night with two more of my favorite New Yorkers, Hugh, the adorable Irishman, and Archley, who I owe thousands of debts of gratitude to for all the help and advice he’s given me about art and photography.

Some other highlights of the trip that didn’t get photographed:

• Having one and a half Levain cookies
• Meeting my friend Patrick’s new puppy
• Seeing a drag show featuring Lady Bunny
• XL nightclub (the bathroom alone makes it work a visit)
• Having my first real experience walking around the city by myself
• The Out NYC Hotel (and its restaurant, and its bellhop with the dreamy eyes)
• Dinner at the best Indian restaurant I’ve ever been to (Amma) with Brad and Kristin
• Meeting one of the directors of the Leslie Lohman Gallery (a very well respected LGBT art gallery)
• Seeing that both of my photos in the Auction almost land in the home of weatherman Sam Champion (unfortunately, he and his husband were outbid)

I love new York. It’s always so hard to leave. And this was one of my favorite trips. I liked having three friends from Indiana along (every year, I seem to bring more people to the GLAAD Art Auction), and I liked that we all hung out but also we split into smaller groups and weren’t always attached at the hips to each other. I liked that I saw some of my New York friends who are important to me (Jodi, Patrick, Michael, Kristin and Brad). And of course, I loved the auction, itself. The night of this event is my favorite nights of the year.

And it doesn’t hurt that both photos sold.

Cameron Diaz for Elle UK

Some of her movies are cute, but I’ve never really understood the appeal of Cameron Diaz. This was especially true in the late 1990s when she kept making all of those “most beautiful” lists. Cute, of course. Beautiful? I don’t see it.

But this cover of Elle UK is, by far, the best photo of Cameron Diaz I have ever seen.

Photographer in this post: David Slijper.

Diary Days of Summer by Rick Day

Super photographer Rick Day photographed Bel Ami porn stars Kevin Baker, Andre Boleyn and Jim Kerouac for an editorial feature called Diary Days of Summer for Coitus Magazine. I love it; the boys are beautiful and Rick Day’s photography is — as always — superb. You can see the whole editorial at Coitusmagazine.com.