Link to Article: “Is MoMA Putting Artists Back in the Closet” by Mark Joseph Stern

“My quietness has a man in it, he is transparent
and he carries me quietly, like a gondola, through the streets.
He has several likenesses, like stars and years, like numerals.” – first lines of poem by Frank O’Hara

Please indulge princeHerman’s round about logic and presentation ….

The myths of San Francisco as a liberal bastion are only partially true. The image of Salt Lake City as a conservative city being the seat of the LDS stands in contrast to the reputation it has for a quiet underground rebelling against that conservatism. Similarly San Francisco is really a conservative city with a vocal group of liberals rebelling against conservatism of the whole country. My premise has myriad examples; the latest of which is the recently passed ban on nudity.

So its no surprise the the MoMA exhibits this split personality by obscuring Rauschenberg and Johns’ relationship despite its relevance to the work presented. The lesson here is about homophobia by a museum working against its own high minded liberal ideals. Where sexuality is relevant to the art it needs to be presented. This is the case with heterosexual relationships like the dramatic women with Picasso,  or Van Gogh cutting off part of an ear purportedly because of a woman. Rauschenberg and Johns’ sexuality provides elements of meaning and must be mentioned. 

As this article points out, sometimes the sexuality of the artist is irrelevant, but sometimes sexuality is formative.  princeHerman has just completed a piece that removes gender preference as an element of his body of work  by being his first stained glass pornography of a woman. The piece is about sexuality. period. Not gay sexualtiy. He is gay so some of my work represents gay sex as part of my human experience being documented by an artist. But the work isn’t about being gay; the work is about sexuality as element of the human experience. So his work represents gay sex because that is his point of access.  

princeHerman’s latest piece informs the body of work as being about sexuality with a homocentric focus, but not necesarily being limited to homoerotic art because this latest piece is not gay. (Which reminds me of a funny story: Last year at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival a particular organizer introduced princeHerman and Consort Llama as the gayest people she’s ever met. Which of course was taken as a compliment.)

The piece is a stained glass portrait of a woman in suspension bondage. The process to create it was intense for the past month and very intimate. But unlike many of his other pieces, which he finds sexually arousing while working on them, this piece was arousing without a sexual element. pH spent approximately twelve hours working on just her face. And another ten on her hands. What emerged from the glass was not a powerless sex object, immobiliezed on tip toe ready for use by a captor. What emerged was a woman with empowerment. She allows this activity and enjoys the moment where she doesn’t have to be in control. ( so I read this back to myself wondering if its a crock of shit fabricated by a lead poisoned sleep deprived shut-in.)

Anyway, enjoy the article. Pics of the latest piece and its process of creation will be posted in a week or so.