ART FOR THE GAY MAN

The M1 helmet is a combat helmet that was used by the U.S. military from World War II until 1985, when it was succeeded by the PASGT helmet. The M1 helmet has become an icon of the US military, with its design inspiring other militaries around the world. The M1 is a “one-size-fits-all" helmet, an outer metal shell, sometimes called the "steel pot", and a hard hat–type liner nestled inside it featuring an adjustable suspension system. An estimated 70,000 mostly men had been saved from death or injury by wearing it. The soldiers in Vietnam turned their helmets into items of personal identity. Unit symbols, girlfriend's names, political expressions, short timer's calendars, and cultural icons all found their way drawn or painted on this piece of military gear. I always prefer the idea of “ Make Love Not War” … as is the sentiment behind this Vietnam War soldier.

Despite being married to 4 different women, most notably Isadora Duncan (with whom he shared no common language) Russian poet Sergei Yesenin ( 1895-1925) , loved men. He is one of the most popular and well-known Russian poets of the 20th century with his style called “peasants poetry”. His poetry was loved for its simplicity and clarity, bridging both high and low culture, include his poems of love to the various men in in his life. During WWI he had a relationship with the poet Leonid Kannegisser, (later the assassin of Moisei Uritsky of the secret police) while during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, gay writers continued writing but gay-positive work was not encouraged under the Soviet regime (after 1933, when Stalin recriminalized homosexuality, no gay-themed works were published.) By the mid 1920’s Sergei entered into a three year relationship with another fellow poet Anatoly Marienhof, to whom many poems are dedicated, inspired by or written about. Sergei was a rebellious writer, suffering through bouts of alcoholism, violent behavior, depression and plagued by his inner demons when he hung himself in a Leningrad hotel at the age of 30. Perhaps it was his failed marriages or the disillusionment that he must have felt when the revolution that he supported failed to live up to his expectations or that he was a gay man who had simply yielded to the worlds pressures and no longer wanted to fight…we will never know.

@kentartwork - Twin Peaks, work in progress

Unknown artist, mid-century watercolor.

Two French brothers who visited my studio https://www.instagram.com/p/BlIku86Bijc/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=5m3pyctk6m3b

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲-𝐒𝐨𝐱𝐞𝐫 (𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟕)

Nicolas Brunet  (Nick and Pierre)

In 2012’s “Christopher And His Kind”, Douglas Booth played Heinz, a German street sweeper who became the lover of Christopher Isherwood, played by Matt Smith. I fell in love with Douglas Booth and out of love with Isherwood.

Maurice Grosser (1903-1986) Portrait of Albert Samuelson, 1955

Amazon

Joseph Sayers and Skyler Hart

Dorian Guo - Antoine… (More at the link)

Óskar Béthencourt

Bruce LaBruce

Unknown men, 1949, Sweden.

That uncertain look - Notting Hill Market London - 1960 Image by Norman McCaskill