Raphael Perez

Raphael Perez is the first artist to contact me, offering the use of his work in this blog. (Pats myself on the back.) He wanted to introduce me to his art, but it was a little late for that - I knew a good portion of his art already. I found his work during Gay Pride month last June, and featured him in several posts on another blog I run. I was first fascinated by his more realistic art, and I still love that style, but I've grown to really appreciate his other styles as well.

You'll see a lot of red in his art work - according to Perez, red is his "color of choice for its profound representation of passion, dominance and expressionism." He explains that the main difference between his early and later styles is basically tied to his relationships - that you can see his "transition from having had relationships with women to relationships with men, a transition from a life of restraint to sentimental outburst."

I enjoy Rafi's bold use of color, and his sense of humor - which is most obviously present in the series "Cock Fight" and his more recent Computer Porn pieces. His Naive art fascinates me with the joyfulness of the men he portrays - there's nobody hiding in the closet here. His support of fellow gay artists is another reason I'm particularly fond of Raphael Perez - he sponsors other artists on his site, which features extensive links to popular artists as well as those just getting started.


Enjoy!


Note: Click on the images to see the full sized pictures.

Kobi Sitting

Lover on Two Stools

Cock Fight #1

Cock Fight #3

Kobi on Armchair

Hug

Gay Sex

I Love Red #4

Body Parts

Oral Sex

I Love Red #6

Sharing Passion #1

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Rafael Perez's Art: Rafi's Portfolio and Art not in his Portfolio
There are seven galleries of his art in the Portfolio - and each gallery consists of a number of categories with many pieces of artwork in each. I missed a fair amount of his paintings the first time I took a look around, so be sure you take your time and check out everything.


deviantART: Raphael Perez on deviantART

YouTube: Raphael Perez's YouTube Channel

Matt and Andrej Koymasky's Home: The Raphael Perez Scrapbook

References: Perez's Personal Links List with articles, interviews and other websites that host his work. I usually list sites I find with articles and artwork by the artist, but Perez has done my work for me - an extensive list.

Free Wallpapers with Raphael Perez's art

Free Email Greeting Cards with Raphael Perez's art

Ebay: The Raphael Perez Gay Art Poster Store - purchase Perez's Gay Art Posters

GayCardShop.com - Raphael Perez Art Cards can be purchased here



Extra Treats!


Link: Rafi dancing in a skimpy Purim costume


Link: Rafi painting on someone's ass




The Artist at 40
(Click to enlarge)



Perez's Website:
According to Perez, he hasn't updated his site in about a year. When I spent some time looking around, the most recent dates I found were two or three years old. But there's still a lot of interesting stuff to be found there. Here are some links:

Gay Paintings Magazine - Includes articles on gay artists, gay art history, gay culture, homosexuality and religion...you get the idea.

Gay Art Galleries - Includes pages on famous gay artists like Keith Haring and Henry Scott Tuke, gay photographers such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Wilhelm von Gloeden and George Platt Lynes. There are also pages on less famous/less dead, but still talented artists, as well.

Gay Art Forum - The Art Forum seems to be the only part that is still being used regularly. It's not a very busy forum, but you can still register and post there. I found some good art, and several links to new artist's work there.

Gay Art Directory - A rather extensive Links List of gay artists and photographers, as well as artist's galleries and directories, links to gay literature and music, gay search engines, organizations and businesses.



All images © Rafael Perez.
I just admire the art.

Benoit Prévot

Benoit Prévot's art is unique in many ways, but the most recognizable is his use of a 20's and 30's style and attitude, with it's emphasis on a way of life that no longer really exists, and a strong Art Deco flair. According to his interviews and bios, he is fascinated by those decades, and the larger than life stars and personalities who populated them. It sets his art apart, and gives it a feel all of it's own.

But what I like even more about Prévot's art is his sense of humor and the expressive faces of his characters. His humor can be very subtle, so it's worth taking a minute or two to look closely at his drawings, and check out the details. Phallic symbols abound, and even though there may be nothing in the actual figures he draws that is even suggestive, if you glance at the shadows on the wall, you may see an entirely different picture. The first time I looked at "Wine Fueled Imaginings," I almost didn't even notice the figures tumbling out of the carafe - I was too busy concentrating on the fascinated look on the face of the man pouring the wine.


Enjoy!


Note: Click on the images to see the full sized pictures.

La Fontaine de Jouvence
(The Fountain of Youth)

Wine Fueled Imaginings

The Falling Rose

The Golden Dildo

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His website: Benoit Prévot: Illustrateur

His Blog: Pourquoi Dessiner? (Why Draw?)

Duplex Bar Exhibit: Drawings from 2005

Homoerotic Art Museum: The Benoit Prévot Room

The Male Vagabondage Blog: Benoit Prévot Post

Meatcute Blog's many Prévot Posts: here, here, here and here.

The Tom of Finland Foundation's Galleries: Duel





Prévot lives and works out of Paris, as an illustrator and graphic artist in advertising, as well as working in TV in children's cartooning. But for our purposes, his other main focus is in Adult Comics. He has two comics out in France: Angelface #1 & #2. From what I read on his blog, Angelface #1 is coming out in English soon, but no date was given.

Angelface #1
(Click to enlarge)

I found two sites that sell both Angelface comics, but both of them are in French. It doesn't look like #1 is available for pre-orders in English yet.

H&O Editions (the publishers of Angelface)
LireGay.com

You can use BableFish or Google Translate if you'd like to get an idea of the plot of the comics. Neither are great translations, but you can get the idea.




All images © Benoit Prévot.
I just admire the art.

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Palanca

Despite my lack of interest in feet as fetish objects, the fact that the feet of Palanca's models play such a "large" part in almost all of his art doesn't at all deter me from being fascinated by his talent or his sense of humor. The deep intense colors of his drawings and his firm, sure hand are a big part of the attraction, but the down-to-earth grittiness of the men he draws fascinates me just as much.

He'll draw on anything - opened cardboard boxes, random slips of paper, engagement calendars - don't be surprised to find a drawing that's on two or three pieces of paper stuck together, when one just wasn't big enough. I don't know if that's a matter of a poor artist making use of whatever supplies he can get his hands on, or if he just gets inspired and has to draw on whatever he can find before he loses his muse. But whatever the reason, it works for me.

I like Palanca's attitude, as well. He seems down to earth, honest and eager to share his love of men, art and feet with as many people as he can find. He spends a lot of time describing his muses and his methods on his site (there's even a video of his sketching technique.) Despite that fact that English is not his native language (he's originally from Peru), he manages to communicate well enough to get his point across. And his drawings don't need any help at all to be understood.


Enjoy!


Note: Click on the images to see the full sized pictures. Just be aware that some of these are very large.

Jockstrap

Bootcock

Footlove

Sling

Surfer

Cigar

Barak

Oil

Fuck You!

Go Ahead, Make My Day.

Incubus

Veiny Dick

Dario

Chris in XTC

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His Website: PalancaFeet!
Unfortunately, parts of his website exceed their data transfer limit on a regular basis. I've waited for several days now, hoping his Drawings Pages would come back up, but I've put this post off long enough already, so I'm linking you to the site, anyway. You can see a handful of his drawings on the main page, in any event - and there are some good sized collections below, so you can still see plenty of his art. Bookmark the site - it will be back. Just wait a few days.


Art for Sale through The Tom of Finland Foundation :
Palanca's Art Page 1
Palanca's Art Page 2

Delftboys Free Pages: Palanca's Page

Supermarky's: Museum Palanca
There are several other drawings by Palanca throughout the site - as well as some rather amusing photos of Palanca and Supermarky dressed for Haloween. Check out the whole site.

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Fools For Feet - For the next couple of days (through May 3rd, 2008), Palanca's art will be shown at an exhibition featuring a number of well-know artists at the Antebellum Gallery in Hollywood — known as the only fetish art gallery in America (and perhaps the world.)

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A critics view of Palanca's art - Scroll down to the yellow highlighted areas for the paragraph on Palanca. It was written some time ago, so she's behind the times on his whereabouts - he's now living in Los Angeles. But other than that, I think she has a pretty good grip on his art. I especially like the last line of her paragraph on him. Very appropriate.



All images © Palanca.
I just admire the art.