Felix
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Senon
So I have a new model in the studio, whom I will talk about later. Here are some photos of him and Bruno, my photographer friend who introduced him to me,
Felix
Felix
Au Lido
I just completed this painting, which is inspired by one of my favorite artists, George Barbier. I loved the idea of making a newer, even gayer version of his piece, "Au Lido," which is below:
My painting is based on a photo I took a few years ago in which I am making out with my boyfriend, Leif.
And finally, the finished painting:
I think I want to make another, larger version, with more figures, and more nudity (I love the tension created when there are a couple of nude figures among a larger number of clothed boys). But I am very happy with how it came out. You can check it out on my ebay store here:
Tomorrow I plan on adding another post with more of Barbier's work, who has influenced me a lot.
Monday, May 24, 2010
More Fun at the Haven
Here are some more photos from those two sunny days at the Haven.
I fell in love while I was there, with another boy named Felix. I haven't asked him yet if I can post his photo on the blog, but if I can, expect it soon. After these sunny days, it rained for 3 days straight, and then I was off for foggy San Francisco. Which sounds tragic - three days of rain in a soggy tent! But I spent those days with the other Felix, and we somehow managed to pass the time. I'll post again soon!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Procession for Antinous
I did this diptych about a month ago, but I thought I would share my process with you. This piece actually started almost five years ago. The model in these photos, Pete, was my first assistant that I had ever hired; he and I both modeled together at the Academy of Art College (which was how I met him - we were both naked on a stand!), just weeks before I decided I was earning enough on my artwork to quite modeling and just be a full time artist. Anyway, a year or two after that, I conceived of this painting, and I had Pete (who was by this time my assistant, but he also modeled whenever I needed it) do all of these poses of boys walking for the procession, which I then put together in photoshop. At the time, I made a very long drawing, but recently, I decided to make it a painting. I cut the original drawing in two so that each sheet could be made as a large print, and re-traced a print of the original drawing (I had sold the original long ago), and painted it in ink and watercolor. Here are the two parts of the diptych:
Antinous was the young lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian. He was famed for his exquisite beauty, and he died tragically (and mysteriously) young, by drowning in the Nile. It is unclear if his death was murder or suicide. Hadrian was inconsolable; he afterwards declared his young charge a god, and temples were built to him throughout the Roman Empire; he became symbolic of gay love, and was associated with Apollo and the sun. A great novel by Marguerite Yourcenar is about this love affair; its one of my favorite books. It is a deeply intellectual book, and highly recommended. It is not really light reading; in any case, a link follows besides this entry.
I imagined my painting as being a procession or ceremony for Antinous, which would have taken sometime in the century after his death. I imagine it as taking place on the estate of a wealthy Roman, in the Italian countryside, who has invited his friends an the beautiful young boys of the local village to participate. They carry flowers and caged birds, and drape wreathes around his statue. The young nobleman is the man with the black hair and green cloak, with his arms about the shoulders of his lover, to the fare right of the upper image.
Bellow, is a photo of one of the panoramas I did when I was going to make this image. If you compare the photo to the paintings, you can see that Pete was the model for most of the boys. Click on the image to enlarge it, since it looks so small here.
http://felixdeon.com/Hist/OfferingsForAntinous2.html here is a link to purchase the painting
http://felixdeon.com/Hist/OfferingsForAntinous2P.html here is a link for a more inexpensive print
The first part of the diptych. Here is a link to the painting
and the print:
Antinous was the young lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian. He was famed for his exquisite beauty, and he died tragically (and mysteriously) young, by drowning in the Nile. It is unclear if his death was murder or suicide. Hadrian was inconsolable; he afterwards declared his young charge a god, and temples were built to him throughout the Roman Empire; he became symbolic of gay love, and was associated with Apollo and the sun. A great novel by Marguerite Yourcenar is about this love affair; its one of my favorite books. It is a deeply intellectual book, and highly recommended. It is not really light reading; in any case, a link follows besides this entry.
I imagined my painting as being a procession or ceremony for Antinous, which would have taken sometime in the century after his death. I imagine it as taking place on the estate of a wealthy Roman, in the Italian countryside, who has invited his friends an the beautiful young boys of the local village to participate. They carry flowers and caged birds, and drape wreathes around his statue. The young nobleman is the man with the black hair and green cloak, with his arms about the shoulders of his lover, to the fare right of the upper image.
Bellow, is a photo of one of the panoramas I did when I was going to make this image. If you compare the photo to the paintings, you can see that Pete was the model for most of the boys. Click on the image to enlarge it, since it looks so small here.
Boy Kimono
Some more photos from the (sadly) two beautiful days at The Haven. I won this beautiful kimono at an auction (which I was very excited about - now I have a pattern to make more for myself), and it turns out this beautiful boy had always longed to wear a kimono. Here he is dancing for joy, and in the rest, I am tying on a make-shift obi made out of a Mexican poncho. I love this boy, whom I will call S. I met S. last year at Burning Man. He came to my camp where I was giving out snow cones, and he hung out for a while, waiting until I finished, but one thing after another came up, and we never managed to hook up. And lo and behold, there he was at The Haven, so our friendship was clearly ordained by the stars. Anyway, here are the photos,
Felix
Felix
Friday, May 14, 2010
Les Feluettes, or, Lilies
This is one of my favorite movies. Its a love story set in turn-of-the-century Canada, and tells of a love triangle between three boys in 1912, while alternating with the lives of the same men from a prison yard in the 1950's. The editing and cinematography of this film are incredible, and the story structure novel and riveting. The entire movie takes place as a sort of a play enacted by the men in the prison yard, and the film swings back and forth through time, transporting the rapt viewers into the youths and loves of the men in this incredible film. And it doesn't hurt that the main stars are naked a lot of the time. I wish I had some stills to post, but below is a trailer for the film,
Felix
Felix
Just Between Us
So among the books my friend Bruno gave me was this one, "Just Between Us," by Greg Gorman. Its a really beautiful book, and a great deal raunchier than I was expecting from the cover. The entire thing is a collaboration between the photographer and one single (straight) model, Greg Knudson. About half of the book features a fully clothed Knudson looking as beautiful as it is possible for a man to look, and in the rest, he is in varying states on nudity and arousal, all beautifully photographed. The book captures a beautiful intimacy between the two men, and is highly recommended. A link to the book on Amazon follows below,
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