The latest art collection from publisher Bruno Gmünder is a thick (320 pages) anthology of small drawings (about 7″x7″/15×15 cm) which have been made since 2000 by dozens of artists working at the Queer Men’s Erotic Art Workshop in New York from real-life models, during sessions hosted by the Leslie/Lohman Art Foundation.
I don’t know any of those artists (and I’m sorry to say there’s no biographical information in the book), but I guess most of them are either gifted amateurs or professionals working in other graphical areas. What’s obvious is the variety of styles and and mediums displayed in this book, as you can see in the sample page I’m showing here. Subjects also vary from all-ages portraits to explicitly erotic scenes.
Leafing through such a large collection (which is in fact only a small part of the art produced for this workshop) is a wonderful way of savoring the myriad ways of representing the male body through art not constrained by society’s restrictions against male/male sexuality. The cumulative effect is also valuable in itself, as it is building a kind of insect’s vision, a never complete, multi-faceted view of this particular corner of the world, where men are shown enjoying themselves and each other.
Dirty Little Drawings is a very entertaining book, a celebration of sensuality and the liberating power of art. It is available at Amazon.
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