Saturday, February 26, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Nicholas Courtney -- 1929 - 2011
An important piece of my childhood passed away today; maybe he was special to you as well...
Doctor Who 'Brigadier' Nicholas Courtney dies aged 81
"Jenkins! Chap with wings there, five rounds rapid!"
Farewell, Brig!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Bobby Brophy by Pat Rocco
Venturing close to the retro years here, but I find Pat Rocco's work intriguing (and very hard to find) so please indulge me...
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Palatinus in Paris - Extended!
I just learned that John Palatinus' exhibit at the gallery Au Bonheur du Jour has been extended through February 23.
I hope my friends in Paris (or friends about to go to Paris!) will take this chance to discover John's art up close and personal!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Bob Mizer in Berlin! Feb. 19 -- March 19
I received a press release from Den Bell over at AMG about an interesting exhibit opening this week -- "Bob Mizer: Select Private Works 1942 - 1992" -- 26 Cibachrome prints made from original Kodachrome slides.
From the Exile Gallery website -- Exile understands art as a collaborative, inter-generational and overarching discourse embedded in socio-political, gender, and personal history as much as in aesthetic theory and conceptual practice.
Exile was founded in October 2008 in Alexandrinenstr 4, Berlin-Kreuzberg. On Feb 19, 2011 Exile re-opens in Köpenicker Str 39, Berlin-Mitte.
Bob Mizer: Select Private Works 1942-1992 begins with documentary-based photographs from Venice Beach, CA from the mid 1940s and a selection of outdoor portraits taken during his first trip to Europe in 1951. During these years, Mizer created his photographic identity as well as his entrepreneurial voice for AMG and Physique Pictorial.
The exhibition continues by examining the artist’s particular use of color. Mizer began experimenting with color photography as early as the mid 1940s and continued to experiment throughout his career. This took several forms, ranging from fashion-based imagery to formal portraiture. Many of these photographs show a subtle understanding and manipulation of color and lighting effects - all imbued with a characteristic style and underlying symbolism.
The exhibit culminates in a selection of works that illustrate the ways in which Mizer constantly challenged his own visual language. These works show how he developed and appropriated many of today's known stereotypes of masculine visual representation - and then further shows his incessant obsession to push further and further into and beyond his own stereotypes. These particular images are multi-layered fables of embedded visual coding: an angry-looking Marine who has lost his pants, a Jesus on a fabric-clad cross in a state of excitement, and a fake Native-American standing proudly against airplane jet trails in the LAX flight path.
Exile is excited to show a side of this unique artist’s work and of our collective cultural history that has hitherto been underrated and unexplored. His vast estate consists of about one million negatives and transparencies, countless reels of 8 and 16 mm films, thousands of BetaMax videotapes, as well as large amounts of personal paraphernalia. This exhibition has been curated by Christian Siekmeier and Billy Miller, in conjunction with Dennis Bell and Christopher Trout from the Mizer Foundation..
The images you see here will be part of the exhibit.
I certainly wish Den and the folks at Exile Gallery all the best and great success!
Read more about it: Exile Gallery and Bob Mizer Foundation
From the Exile Gallery website -- Exile understands art as a collaborative, inter-generational and overarching discourse embedded in socio-political, gender, and personal history as much as in aesthetic theory and conceptual practice.
Exile was founded in October 2008 in Alexandrinenstr 4, Berlin-Kreuzberg. On Feb 19, 2011 Exile re-opens in Köpenicker Str 39, Berlin-Mitte.
Bob Mizer: Select Private Works 1942-1992 begins with documentary-based photographs from Venice Beach, CA from the mid 1940s and a selection of outdoor portraits taken during his first trip to Europe in 1951. During these years, Mizer created his photographic identity as well as his entrepreneurial voice for AMG and Physique Pictorial.
The exhibition continues by examining the artist’s particular use of color. Mizer began experimenting with color photography as early as the mid 1940s and continued to experiment throughout his career. This took several forms, ranging from fashion-based imagery to formal portraiture. Many of these photographs show a subtle understanding and manipulation of color and lighting effects - all imbued with a characteristic style and underlying symbolism.
The exhibit culminates in a selection of works that illustrate the ways in which Mizer constantly challenged his own visual language. These works show how he developed and appropriated many of today's known stereotypes of masculine visual representation - and then further shows his incessant obsession to push further and further into and beyond his own stereotypes. These particular images are multi-layered fables of embedded visual coding: an angry-looking Marine who has lost his pants, a Jesus on a fabric-clad cross in a state of excitement, and a fake Native-American standing proudly against airplane jet trails in the LAX flight path.
Exile is excited to show a side of this unique artist’s work and of our collective cultural history that has hitherto been underrated and unexplored. His vast estate consists of about one million negatives and transparencies, countless reels of 8 and 16 mm films, thousands of BetaMax videotapes, as well as large amounts of personal paraphernalia. This exhibition has been curated by Christian Siekmeier and Billy Miller, in conjunction with Dennis Bell and Christopher Trout from the Mizer Foundation..
The images you see here will be part of the exhibit.
I certainly wish Den and the folks at Exile Gallery all the best and great success!
Read more about it: Exile Gallery and Bob Mizer Foundation
Tore Lind aroused
Something rather special, discovered today...
Tore had no qualms about posing nude for Champion and FotoGrafo (as I've posted before), but Tore with an actual erection was unheard of -- until now!
I really can't place an attribution on this one. I don't get a Champion feel for this, though if I find this bed in another one of Walter's shots I'll come back and make a correction.
Regular visitors might have noticed the recent addition of Google's "content warning" page when navigating to v-m-p. There haven't been a whole lot of "naughty" pictures posted at this blog, but some piece of scum didn't like something I put up and complained about the content to Google, who placed a warning on the site while I was away last month. So, to make sure there are no misrepresentations of intent, I have gone in and changed my settings and made this an "adult content" blog. Will I be posting more "naughty" pics than normal? Probably not. But at least now, everyone who comes to this site can't [reasonably] complain if they find some.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Palatinus in Paris - One Day Left!
How can it be that there is only one official day of viewing left for John Palatinus' first solo exhibit at the gallery Au Bonheur du Jour in Paris? Wasn't I there just yesterday, framing the prints with Bernd? And then, that awe-inspiring opening night?
Long story short, fellas -- Paris was a huge success!
And how do you spell "success in Paris?" T-E-A-M-W-O-R-K!!
The logistics themselves were ridiculous. The artist and his "publisher" (that's me!) on the west coast of the USA -- the project manager in Germany -- the gallery owner in France. All have met each other in couplets, but never all in the same room, until January 15 -- only 3 days before the show opened! Only the modern miracles of email and Skype could have brought this all together in so short a time!
Let me give my heartfelt thanks here to the people who made this all possible:
Bernd, for all the massive legwork (advertising through posters in shops and announcements in all the local gay magazines and especially a 4-page article in France's top gay magazine, "Tetu" [#162, January 2011]) and for such enthusiasm about spreading John's story and art throughout Europe (there's more to come!)
Mme Nicole Canet and her gallery Au Bonheur du Jour (John's #1 choice for premiering his work in Paris) for taking a chance on this intercontinental experiment
Billy, John's longtime friend who stayed with us in the apartment and found himself playing "mother hen" and keeping the madness at an acceptable level (not to mention all the work actually hanging the show and letting himself being talked into playing the "cowboy" at the opening night!)
young model Sven of Berlin who made his first trip to Paris to play the "sailor" at the opening and certainly made a hit with the crowd!
bartender Candy, also from Berlin, who made sure everyone who came into the gallery that night had a glass of champagne (and who gave me my first two shots of Jager a couple of nights later!!)
Daniel Nassoy, the official "Palatinus in Paris" photographer, who is such a total sweetheart and became an instant friend to all of us foreigners -- thank you for your beautiful photos and your warm spirit!
Bob Patrick, who befriended John and me at the Antebellum Gallery opening last February, and whose amazing collection of vintage male photography made a direct impact on this exhibit (and who also played the "construction worker" for the evening!)
Oliver, Uwe and Andreas for all the in-the-background work -- John, Bernd and I send you our sincere gratitude!
Thank you, Pablo, for coming to the opening and sharing your art and your love of the vintage male physique with John (and also the world at your blog, Le champ clos)
Herve Le Goff, with whom I had a too-brief conversation at the opening, and who created this wonderful film of the opening night (what a fantastic surprise to find when I returned home on the 25th!) -- Merci, kind sir!
Best of luck to Chip on his new endeavor -- thank you for flying in to be with us on this special occasion!
To my beloved Willem -- thank you for forcing me (yes, literally FORCING ME!) to go on this foreign expedition. Just one more amazing adventure that I could never have made without you -- but so weird to have made "on my own" with you back home... Here's looking forward to Berlin this fall, together--! I love you!
And, last but certainly not least, Mr. John Palatinus -- what a strange trip the last two years have been! Who could have dreamed all this would result from an email and a phone call? You've knocked my world off its axis and sent me flying into space (and Paris, and soon to Berlin...) -- who knows where we'll end up next? Thank you for taking me on this amazing journey!
(Photos 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14 are by Daniel Nassoy [c 2011] -- thanks again, Daniel! More photos of the opening night and other events to come soon!)