Review: Zack: The Art

The latest book from publisher Bruno Gmünder dedicated to Oliver Frey’s art is an overview of his career as an illustrator, focused on his gay work. Zack: The Art is a thick book¹ which includes about two hundred illustrations, beautifully reproduced and, not surprisingly, hotter than the Men’s gymnastics at the Olympic games (well, almost).

I’d been hoping for such a book for years (really, look at this review), and I’m not disappointed. Under headings going from Boy Next Door to Harder, Rough Sex, these illustrations drawn over three decades run the gamut from tender scenes to hardcore orgies—not that one excludes the other. While the other Frey books showed us his talent as a storyteller, this one demonstrates that he can fill one single image with as much energy and hornyness. I admire his seemingly simple images of two guys at rest as much as his hardcore crowd scenes, because both feel like windows on worlds as different as possible, and yet both filled with cute guys drawn in the much recognizable Frey style. I’ll only show two illustrations done about 25 years apart, and choosing was hard enough.

This illustration done in 1976 is for me a good example of Frey’s sense of humor, as well as his ability to encapsulate (more or less) domestic life. What’s more “normal” than those two guys, smoking post-coitum, one stroking the other’s hair? It all looks so peaceful and homey. And then you notice the ball and chain attached to the guy’s ankle, and instead of going “Aww”, you begin to giggle. At least, I did. The old ball and chain, indeed.

This impressive scene, done in 2010, shows another side of Frey: the sex and violence association, which I must admit doesn’t do much for me. But it’s done so well that I can’t help admiring it. I also feel like playing Where’s Waldo? with it, but I digress. Look at the way color is used to attract the eye to the center of the image, the pale, pink flesh of the boy contrasting with the more muted colors around him. The upright legs of the other two naked boys work very well in the composition, as they also attract the eye to parts of the tableau and divide it up, making it easier for the audience to get into the busy scene.

These are only two examples of the quality you get throughout the book. Another feature I greatly enjoyed was the short biography of Oliver Frey written by his long time companion Roger Kean. It was informative, giving us a good idea of Frey’s career in the gay scene and the wider world of illustration—some of his non-gay but still hot art gets its own section in the book.
I’ve also got to say I wrote the afterword for this book, where I tried to expand on the relations between Oliver Frey’s work and various traditions in art and comics.

Though I would have liked to see a larger book (it’s 17 x 22,5 cm/ 6.75 x 9 inch) and to be given information on the illustrations (most don’t even have a year indication), this book is still a valuable addition to the publisher’s library of illustration books, and an even more valuable addition to Frey’s growing list of books.