Official source: www.petergehrke.com

Lorenzo Zanirato
04/03/1970

Davis Wakengire
07/07/1976

Andrea Masiero
06/03/1971

Claudio Cavallini
10/12/1981

Matteo Tosi
06/07/1970

Carlo Chieregati
01/11/1969

Antonio Civilla
06/05/1976

Santiago
12/10/1971

Davis Wakengire
07/07/1976

Andrea Masiero
06/03/1971

Lorenzo Zanirato
04/03/1970

Claudio Cavallini
10/12/1981

Official source: www.malemodel.it

Before he focussed his career on directing, Defurne worked as assistant director on experimental filmmaker Matthias Müller‘s shorts Alpsee (1995) and Pensão Globo (1997). Bavo was a set decorator on many films, like Peter Greenaway‘s The Baby of Mâcon (1993) and Vincent Bal‘s De man van Staal (1999).

Bavo studied film and video at St. Lukas Art School in Brussels. His first short video, Atlantis, already demonstrated Defurne’s obsessions – the body and the power of nature and silence. Bavo Defurne grew up in a village close to Oostende, Belgium. He was born in 1971.

“Watching the short films of Belgian film director Bavo Defurne, four of which have recently been released on DVD under the title Campfire (Strand Video), can be both an aesthetically pleasing and an emotionally bittersweet experience. Defurne, 31, perfectly evokes the aching adolescent longings of gay teenagers while setting them within experimental visual settings – some reminiscent of Pierre et Gilles, others of Carl Theodor Dreyer” (Mike Goodridge, The Advocate, February 18, 2003).

“One of the many pleasures in Defurne’s work is the playful and unforced way in which he references the work of other artists – from Dreyer and Eisenstein to photographers Herbert List and Pierre et Gilles. Most significantly, Defurne and his regular team have created an allegorical and headily romantic gay aesthetic that draws on a wide range of influences, but is uniquely their own. Defurne’s choice of using largely non-professional actors brings a charming innocence to the performances that complements the magical, overwrought worlds that they inhabit” (Robin Baker, BFI, 1999).

Filmography

• 1990 Atlantis
• 1992 Rohypnol & Particularly now, in Spring – video
• 1993 Trailer & Ludodrome
• 1995 Particularly now, in Spring – film
• 1996 Saint – short film
• 1997 Saint – as a part of the feature length compilation Rainbow Stories
• 1998 Matroos / Sailor
• 1999 Kampvuur / Campfire

Awards

• Ludodrome: Audience Highlight, Arnhem, 1995.
• Saint: Special Jury Mention, Hamburg , 1996
• Kampvuur / Campfire: Film Four Short Film Prize, London Lesbian and Gay Film festival, 2000; Special Jury Mention, Torino Lesbian and Gay film festival, 2000; Audience Award, Torino Lesbian and Gay film festival, 2000

Selected screenings

• Canal+ France, Poland, RTP Portugal, Arte France, Canvas Belgium, Film 4 UK, SBS Australia, and many other TV-screenings worldwide.
• Retrospective Antwerp film museum, September 2000
• Retrospective Brussels film museum, December 5, 2000
• Retrospective Leuven kort, November, 2001
• Retrospective Dreaming of Boys, London LGFF, 2002

Kaspar

Nürnberg, Whit Monday 1828. A sixteen year old boy is found. A letter he is carrying says that he has been locked up in a cellar for twelve years. The boy’s speech is very halting and he can only write two words: Kaspar Hauser, his name.

“Taking Kaspar as a template, I have directed a series of photos as film stills in which a deliberate aestheticism helps to question our apparently perfect world. The pictures have been exhibited several times and were published in the magazines Janus and Têtu”(Bavo Defurne).

Saint

16mm (shot on Super-8), B/W, 1996, 11 min., no dialogue
a film by Bavo Defurne with Olaf Nollen as Sebastian and Alex van Stratum, photography Vincent Bal, costume design Yves Verbraeken, art direction Defurne & Verbraeken, editing Ewin Ryckaert, produced by Laika films.

Saint portrays the martyrdom of St Sebastian. “The build-up to the first arrow being fired grips with agonising tension, and a brilliantly timed false-start delivers a coup de cinéma worthy of Hitchcock” (Robin Baker).

“Saint was filmed on Super-8 and I hand processed the negative myself. Like the people, plants and animals that appear in the film, the film stock itself felt as if it was organic, its very unpredictability enabling me to achieve richly contrasting tones. I loved the tactile – almost erotic – touch of the film material. Saint tries to create maximum impact with very simple, low-tech tools, leaving much to the viewers’ imagination” (Bavo Defurne).

Particularly Now, in Spring

16mm, B/W, 1992-1995, 8 min., English voice-over
a film by Bavo Defurne with Olaf Nollen, photography Vincent Ball, sound editing Ewin Ryckaert, costumes Chris Mestdagh, screenplay, art-direction, editing and production by Bavo Defurne.

Capturing the moment when a seventeen year-old boy is about to leave the safety of childhood behind him, Particularly now, in Spring shows teenagers as they compete in athletics like characters from Leni Riefenstal‘s Olympia.

“Initially the idea of not using dialogue sprang from necessity. For my first films we didn’t have the money to get us a decent microphone. But hey, I really don’t like dialogue too much anyway. I try to depict feelings as visually as I can. Images go straight to the heart” (Bavo Defurne).

Sailor

original title: Matroos
Betacam video, colour, 1998, 16 min., no dialogue.
a film by Bavo Defurne with Joram Schurmans, Tom de With, Tim Peters, Hilde Wils, photography Vincent Bal, editing Ewin Ryckaert, art direction Defurne & Verbraeken, Charade © Henry Mancini courtesy of MCA bv, Holland, produced by De Filmfabriek.

Friendship, untainted by cynicism, in Matroos (Sailor). A teenager dreams about the exotic countries, starry skies and the homesickness that would bring his sailor friend back to him.

“Sailor is a film about broken dreams. The main character strives for perfect happiness, total friendship and endless love but somewhere along the line something goes wrong. However, I do hope the film suggests that every loss is a new beginning, so there’s a sort of happy end after all” (Bavo Defurne).

Campfire

original title: Kampvuur
35 mm, colour, 2000, 21 min., Dutch (Flemish) dialogues.
a film by Bavo Defurne with Joram Schurmans as Tijl, Koen Van Heule as Wout, Circé Lethem as Ineke, director of photography Jean-Claude Neckelbrouck, S.B.C., art direction Defurne & Verbraeken, editing Ewin Ryckaert, produced by Yves Verbraeken.

When 18 year-old Tijl is forced to choose between his girlfriend Ineke and his best friend Wout, their camping trip turns into an exciting journey of self-discovery in Kampvuur (Campfire).

“I think this really is a film about true love. My hero in this film is Ineke. The main chracters go crazy in a rollercoaster of emotions, but Ineke is the one who keeps her common sense. She sticks to true to love without prejudice” (Bavo Defurne).

Official source: www.bavo.org

However, in the mid 80′s, Martinoli focussed her attention towards the genres of portraiture and figure photography, specialising in studies of the male form. Since those early days Martinoli has made her mark on the London scene; her prolific imagery adorning the covers of numerous books and magazines as well as advertising campaigns, fashion and editorial features.

Martinoli’s work has been published world wide in prestigious titles such as Australian BLUE and British publications such as BOYZ, GAY TIMES, DIVA, GAY UK, THE FACE, ATTITUDE, AXM, QX, G3, THE TIMES, THE SUNDAY MIRROR and TIME OUT, where her portfolio was described as ‘stunning’. Martinoli’s imagery has graced both covers and pages of art based publications including Phil Brahman‘s Exposed, ‘Thunder Mouth Press’, Homme, ‘Carlton’, David Leddick, Naked Men Too, ‘Universe Books’, Dreamboys, 2Blue, Lads, Bad, ‘Studio Magazines’, Mark Simpson Sex Terror, ‘Haworth Press’, Blacklace, ‘Virgin’, and on 12 ‘Millivres’ book covers.

London Exhibitions

• Zebra Bar 1997
• Yard Bar 97-00
• Oak Bar 2000
• The Village Bar 2000-04
• Freedom Café 2002
• ADONIS gallery 2003

Vienna Exhibition

• Living Room 2001

In March 2002, she showed a breathtaking series of kitsch portraits featuring ‘Dead Or Alive’ front man Pete Burns entitled ‘Manmade’.

In June 2003, Martinoli exhibited at The Adonis Gallery where she stays, to- date, the only female photographer to have been invited to show at this renowned and exclusive venue.

Official source: michelemartinoli.com

Saint John
oil on board / 16″ x 20″

These interests led him to the Illustration program at Syracuse University where he studied with Jerome Witkin, the renowned figurative painter. He completed his degree at the College of William and Mary where he focused on the figure exclusively. After maintaining a studio and exhibiting in and around Boston, Ian moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he’s been part of the Art Explosion studios since 2005. His artistic influences range from Renaissance to modern – the Italian Masters, the great figurative painters Degas, Sargent, and Cassatt, and the more painterly Cezanne and JMW Turner.

Spear Fisherman
watercolor on paper / 9″ x 12″

“I love to work from figures because I love the human form, in its various shapes and contortions. I’m always seeing something new in my subjects, and each new blank canvas is a challenge.

Steven and Jesse
oil on canvas / 11″ x 18″

Be it a live model or a glass of wine, I work almost exclusively from life. I enjoy the immediacy of the experience, and there are details if color, shape, light, musculature, and expression that you can’t get from a photograph. With a few of the figure paintings and the Lilies print, I referred to photographs to help inform me when I took the painting back to the studio. When working in the studio without the subject, I strive to maintain the original observations and energy of the painting.

Stricken Down
watercolor on paper / 9″ x 12″

My influences range from Renaissance to modern. I draw on the Italian Masters, the great figurative painters Degas, Tuke, Sargent, and Cassatt and the more painterly Cezanne and JMW Turner. I am always learning and relearning painting when I see their works, and I am homesick for a view of Turner’s “Slave Ship” at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. My two greatest influences are the Baroque painter Caravaggio and my first painting instructor Jerome Witkin. From theme to composition to color, these two men inform every figure painting I’ve approached since 1994. A reproduction of Caravaggio’s “Saint John in the Wilderness” hangs in my apartment. It is unquestionably my favorite painting in the world. And it is in homage that I present my own Saint John here today.

Brooding
oil on canvas / 8″ x 12″

“Saint John” is only one of the several paintings here that draw on a Christian theme. Adam and Eve, Magdalene, Pietа Daydream, and Young Francis, in Thought all call on my Italian/Irish Catholic upbringing, as well as my reverence for the Italian Masters and the several hundred years of church-funded high European art that they inspired. While I am no longer a practicing Catholic, I am still inspired by the church’s better virtues which we seem to sometimes forget in our daily lives (and in our policy making)” (Ian Hart).

Dreamer
watercolor on paper / 9″ x 12″

Solo Exhibitions

• “Resolutions: Paintings from 2002,” SCAT Gallery, Somerville January 2003

Juried and Group Exhibitions

• “Corner Store,” Frankenart Mart Gallery, San Francisco, CA – Spring 2007
• “Piece of My Heart,” Eclectix Gallery, El Cerrito, CA – February 2007
• “Tiny,” Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA – December 2006
• San Francisco Open Studios – October 2006
• Artist-Xchange Gallery, San Francisco, CA – May, 2006
• “Melt,” Art Explosion Open Studio Show, San Francisco, CA – 2006
• “Tiny,” Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA – 2005
• “Open Heart, Open Mind: A Celebration of Human Sexuality,” San Francisco – 2005
• “8th Annual One Night Stand,” SOMArts, San Francisco – 2005
• Artist-Xchange Gallery, San Francisco, CA – July – August, 2005
• “Food and Drink,” Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA – 2005
• Artist-Xchange Gallery, San Francisco, CA – February – March, 2005
• The Green Cross Boutique and Gallery, San Francisco, CA – 2004
• Lyman Eyre Gallery: Various Auctions, Provincetown, MA – 2003-2005
• “Look At Me, Look At Me: Artist’s Self-Portraits,” Robert Canaga Gallery – 2004 (link to show)
• Self-portrait Exhibition, Gay Art Gallery – 2003-2004 (link to show — warning: adult content)
• Holiday Show, ASUC Art Studio, Berkeley, CA – 2003
• Open Studios, Somerville, MA – 2003
• “An Artist’s Response to September 11,” SCAT Gallery, Somerville, MA – 2002
• “Food for Thought,” Windows Art Project, Somerville, MA – 2002
• Open Studios, Somerville, MA – 2002
• College of William and Mary Senior Exhibition, Williamsburg, VA – 1998
• Juried Student Exhibition, Mariner’s Museum, Newport News, VA -1997
• “Earth, Home of People,” Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY – 1995

Halibut Point
watercolor on paper / 9″ x 12″

Collections

• President’s Private Collection, College of William and Mary, Virginia.
• Numerous private collections in Massachusetts, California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and Washington DC.

Reviews

• Bay Windows, January 23, 2003

Artist in Residence

• Conservation Law Foundation, 62 Summer Street, Boston, MA – 2002-2003

In the Bedroom
oil on canvas / 11″ x 18

Education

• College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia / Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art, Public Policy, May 1998
• Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York / Illustration and Painting Student, Visual Arts Program, Fall 1993 – Spring 1995

Daydream Pieta
oil on board / 13″x20″

Official source: www.ihart.net

Dylan Ricci was born in Rome in 1966 and moved to Australia with his family at the age of seven. He currently divides his time between Asia and Europe.

Ricci’s images are stylish, classic with a sense of timeless beauty often lacking in contemporary male nude photography.

While studying sculpture in Florence, Ricci came to believe that the male body, at its physical peak, is the most pure and beautiful form of art. In his quest to escape the often cliched depictions of male nudes in contemporary fine art photography, Dylan discards the swords, Roman pillars, unmade beds and other paraphernalia to capture the purity, sensuality and sculptural beauty of the male body. He concentrates on lighting, shadow and composition to lift his beautiful men from the two dimensional world of the photographic image to create images of the male nude that are timeless and which capture the true beauty, power and majesty of the male body.

In addition to being published in a number of international art magazines and fine art photography books, Ricci’s male nude photographs are held in galleries and private collections throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.

“I have become regarded as a photographer of the male nude, although it is not the male nude per se that interests me. What excites and fascinates me and motivates my explorations of the innate aesthetic beauty of the male body are the very same elements of image-making that have obsessed western artists for centuries: the interplay of light and form.

My interest in partial views and extreme or unusual poses was born from the realization that the power of the face, with its countless associations and expressions, often betrays the pure aesthetic and sculptural qualities of the human body” (Dylan Ricci).

Official source: www.dylanricci.com

Source: studiokaiz.com

If his photo style begins to look familiar to you (see images below), it’s probably because you recognize his earthy approach from publicity shots for T-Post. From the early days of the company, Knotan has been responsible for the distinctive photography on their website.

When asked about his style, Knotan succinctly replied: “They are honest. They are real. They are my life”. Judging from his work, we don’t doubt this and his shots certainly make a refreshing change from the current Swedish school of photography seen so often in advertising for the likes J. Lindberg and Tiger.

That’s not to say that he himself is not in great demand by publishers and advertisers. Knotan has already chalked up an impressive list of cutting edge magazines that he’s been commissioned by (i.e. Pap, Bon International, Nöjesguiden and People Magazine to name but a few). More to his credit, it’s been said that he takes the type of shots that other photographers would like to but dare not, for fear of upsetting their clients.

Official source: www.knotan.com

“Our work is dedicated to the study of gender… the male gender. We are always in the mood to turn a penetrating eye to the role that men occupy in our culture. Fascinatingly fragile, the masculine mystique strides on a very fine line.
Over and over we ask ourselves probing questions like, “what happens when you experiment with masculinity? Does it get diluted, become taboo and inappropriate, or dissapear altoghether?” We are dedicated to re-packaging, and re-presenting the male again and again. In our persistent pursuit of understanding, we put men in and out of context, in and out of traditional male environs, in and out of spandex” (Aaron Cobbett about PinkAndWrinkly.com).

Biography

1988

• Enrolls in NYU’s Tish School of the Arts photography program.
• Windows Design at Bloomingdales and Bonwit Teller.

1989

• Project X and FAD Magazines.
• House of Field portrait commission.

1991

• Trophy at Love Ball II.
• Pansy Beat Magazine.

1992

• Solo exhibition “Glitter Portraits” at Broome Street Space in New York.
• Marc Almond Commission.

1993

• Graduates with a BFA from NYU.
• Showtime Network
• Maxi Records
• Strictly Rhythm Records
• Elite Models

1994

• Opens his Manhattan Studio in Chelsea.

1995

• Solo Exhibit “Costume”
• Radikal Records ( Liz Torres, The Flirts).

1996

• Maxi Records – Featured in Valerie Steele’s book ‘Fetish’.
• Club 69 “style” cover art and calendar commission

1997

• Named one of Time Out Magazine’s “people to watch in ’97.
• Ad campaign: Naya Water’s “Hungry for life thirsty for Naya”
• Interview Magaine
• Paper Magazine
• Out Magazine
• Manner Aktuel (Germany)
• Idol magazine (France)

1998

• Solo exhibit: Portraiture at Debs & Co. in New York.
• Solo exhibit at Bruno’s in Cologne, Germany

1999

• Solo exhibit ‘Aaron Cobbett’ at Debs & Co. New York
• Book release: Super Eros
• “The Choice” exhibit at Exit Art gallery. Selected by painter Frank Moore
• Vogue Magazine
• Glamour Magazine
• Vanity Fair
• Tetu Magazine (France)
• Blue Magazine (Australia)
• Atlantic Records (Bif Naked)

2000

• FIT Museum: featued in exhibit ‘The Corset: Fashioning the Body’
• Group Show ‘Looking at Him Looking Back’ Clifford Smith Gallery, Boston
• BMG Records
• Queer as Folk season 1 ad campaign (Showtime Network)
• Zodiac portfolio for TETU.

2001

• ‘Lady’ show at Debs & Co. ( Read Reveiw in ARTFORUM)
• Empire Magazine.
• YM Magazine.
• Dazed and Confused Magazine
• Universal Studios London
• Dreamworks (Nellie Furtado)

2002

• Opens Headquarters Studio
• Cabinet Magazine

2003

• Solo Exhibit ‘Through‘ at Debs & Co. NYC

2004

• Group Show ‘Double Take’ ANP Gallery NYC
• SWINDLE Magazine
• Guido NY

2005

• ‘Flower Show’ Exhibit at Catherine Clark Gallery in San Fransisco.
• MAO Mag

2006

• Creates the Headquarters Art Collective
• Disney ‘Ugly Betty’. Produced photo shoot sequence
• Ash & Diamonds Ad Campaign
• Tarina Tarantino Ad Campaign

Official sources: www.aaroncobbett.com, pinkandwrinkly.com

Aaron S.

“My work has covered a wide range of subject matter, with my most recent professional interest focusing on male fitness modeling. I scout subjects that may have never considered modeling as an option, and regularly work with models who have never done any photo shoots or modeling before. I enjoy helping give new models a start” (Kevin Calen).

Leighton S.

Untitled

Derrick A.

Chad D.                                        Evan W.

Evan W.

Jermichael

Jordan P.

Kevin G.

Micah B.                                    Bradford D.

Brandon H.

Chad D.

Anton D.

Ben M.

Official source: kevincalen.com