A fine art, film, history and literature site oriented to, but not exclusively for, the gay community. Please be aware that there is mature content on this blog. Information on images and links to sources will be provided if known. Enjoy your visit and please subscribe.
Photographer Unknown, (Waves Against the Cliffs)
“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
-Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time
Wang Ruilin, Sculptor: Four Animals from his “Dreams” Series, Copper, 2014
Chinese sculptor Wang Ruilin’s copper sculptures are the result of Eastern classical painting and imagery that’s been combined with past experiences. In an ongoing series titled “Dreams,” Wang Ruilin creates surreal animals that don’t act like animals at all. Their backs, and sometimes their antlers, function as arcs that carry monumental elements of nature like lakes and mountain cliffs. It’s like an animal-version of Noah’s Arc without people.
“Leaving individuals behind is painful”, admits the 29-year old sculptor, but it allows us to reduce confusion and see the value and force of life.
Procol Harum, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”, Live in Denmark, 2006
Procol Harum performing A Whiter Shade of Pale with the Danish National Concert Orchestra and choir at Ledreborg Castle, Denmark in August 2006
“A Whiter Shade of Pale” is the debut single by the English rock band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The record reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, it reached No. 5 on the US charts. One of the counterculture anthems of the 1967 Summer of Love, it is one of fewer than 30 singles to have sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
With its Bach-derived instrumental melody, soulful vocals, and unusual lyrics, written by the song’s co-authors Gary Brooker, Keith Reid, and organist Matthew Fisher, “A Whiter Shade of Pale” reached No. 1 in several countries when released in 1967. In the years since, it has become an enduring classic. As of 2009, it was the most played song in the last 75 years in public places in the United Kingdom.
The UK performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited in 2004 recognised it as the most-played record by British broadcasting of the past 70 years. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone placed “A Whiter Shade of Pale” No. 57 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Paintings by Tadeusz Boruta
The winner of numerous awards, Tadeusz Boruta, Professor at the University of Rzeszow in Poland, received scholarships in Rome in 1986 and in Lugano in 1995. From 1992 to 1993, he painted altar paintings in the former Benedictine Monastery in Monte San Savino, Italy. Boruta designed frescoes and stained glass windows in many Catholic churches throughout Poland.
Tadeusz Boruta authored the following books about art: “Szkoła Patrzenia” (The Art of Looking) 2003, “O Malowaniu Duszy i Ciała” (About painting body and soul) 2006 and “Figur-racja” (Figur-ration) in 2009 and wrote over 100 articles on art, published in: “Tygodnik Powszechny”, “Znak”, “Sacrum et Decorum”, “Res Publica Nowa”, “Art & Business” and “Życie Duchowe”.
Artist Unknown, (Derek Hale in ‘Teen Wolf’), Computer Graphics, Film Gifs
Artist Unknown, (Sliding Down), Computer Graphics, Gay Film Gifs
Artist Unknown, “Matthieu Charneau”, Computer Graphics, Animation Gifs from Photo Shoot
Robert Riggs, “The Pool”, 1933, Lithograph, Edition of 50, 37.3 x 49.6 cm, Private Collection
Printmaker and illustrator Robert Riggs was born in Decatur, Illinois and first studied art at Millikin University there, moving to New York and the Art Students League in 1915 when he received a scholarship underwriting two years of study. Riggs subsequently joined the advertising firm A. W. Ayer & Company of Philadelphia. While working there, Riggs also studied at the Académie Julian.
Returning to Philadelphia, in addition to his work at A. W. Ayer, Riggs also worked as a freelance magazine illustrator. He was strongly influenced by the work of George Bellows, producing a series of boxing prints in his own style, followed by a series of lithographs depicting circus-related subjects. In 1940, Riggs produced four lithographs dealing with modern medical practice commissioned by publisher Smith, Kline, and French.
Of the eighty-four prints Riggs made over two decades, most were produced in the mid-1930s. Riggs gave up printmaking around 1950 but continued to produce advertising illustrations for major corporate clients. He was elected to associate membership in the National Academy of Design in 1939 and bercame a full member in 1946. Between 1961 and 1963, Riggs taught at the Philadelphia College of Art.
Artist Unknown, (Navy Drawstring Pants), Computer Graphics, Gay Film Gifs
“Everyone has noticed the taste which cats have for pausing and lounging between the two leaves of a half-shut door. Who is there who has not said to a cat, “Do come in!” There are men who, when an incident stands half-open before them, have the same tendency to halt in indecision between two resolutions, at the risk of getting crushed through the abrupt closing of the adventure by fate. The over-prudent, cats as they are, and because they are cats, sometimes incur more danger than the audacious.”
―
Photographer Unknown, (Beach Scene)
“Trust me, it’s paradise. This is where the hungry come to feed. For mine is the generation that travels the globe and searches for something we haven’t tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite & never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience— And if it hurts, you know what? It’s probably worth it.”
―
Priscilla Queen of the Desert, “Finally”
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a 1994 Australian comedy-drama film written and directed by Stephan Elliott. The plot follows the journey of two drag queens and a transsexual woman, played by Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and Terence Stamp, across the Australian Outback from Sydney to Alice Springs in a tour bus that they have named “Priscilla”, along the way encountering various groups and individuals. It was screened in the UN Certain Regard section of the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and became a cult classic in both Australia and abroad.
I was talking about movies with friends and this movie came up as a favorite on all our lists. So I just had to post the song in this scene. A brilliant movie and soundtrack.
Photographer Unknown, (Black Nike Socks)
Artist Unknown, (Lightning Strike), Computer Graphics, Film Gifs
William Roberts: Paintings and Drawing (Study for ‘The Return of Ulysses’)
Roberts was intrigued by Post-impressionism and Cubism, an interest fuelled by his friendships at the Slade, in particular with the audacious British painter David Bomberg, as well as by his travels in France and Italy after leaving the Slade in 1913.
Later in 1913 Roberts joined Roger Fry’s Omega Workshops for three mornings a week. The ten shillings earned for each workshop that Omega paid enabled Roberts to create challenging Cubist-style paintings such as “The Return of Ulysses” which was purchased by the Castle Museum and Art Gallery in Nottingham, England.
Kristen Strauss, “Horse and Rider”