In the Back Room with Rob Clarke: Running into an Erotic Art Icon
Posted at 4:57 PM Jul 22, 2008
On Tuesdays, Charlie Vazquez writes Gotham After Dark, a peek into what goes on in Manhattan's queer nightlife, with club and event reports and profiles of fascinating New Yorkers.
I had the fortune of running into erotic artist extraordinaire Rob Clarke last week, whilst preparing to watch the usual Thursday night tranny fashion extravaganza at my East Village watering hole, Nowhere. It was some years ago—when I lived in Portland, Oregon—that a friend turned me on to Mr. Clarke’s (at times playful, disturbing and hot) renderings of fetish-centric men doing the things they love to do to each other: penetrating, dominating, teasing and other things for the curious fetish connoisseur.
Moving away from the pumping jukebox, we made our way to the back room, where I could hear the soft-spoken Clarke tell me about his newest projects. We also discussed the relationship between art and the ever-evolving underground world of queer sex—queer male sex, specifically. Savoring a Manhattan and sitting on the floor, the quiet and thoughtful Clarke was sincere and clear—the yin to his work’s yang.
We discussed his new “Fratyr” (fratboy/satyr pictued above) and the recurring power of mythological creatures in erotic art and literature throughout the ages. Clarke’s own arsenal includes the aforementioned satyr and a multi-armed dancing Indian Shiva, in a previous work. I was delighted to learn that he, like me, finds clowns sexy and not scary. We went on to discuss the violence and sadism inherent in “fairy” tales such as on Pleasure Island in Pinocchio.
Clarke’s work is destined for, if not already considered part of, the contemporary queer male art canon. The insecurity of moving away from youth (in a culture that deifies it) rings with mischief, revenge and obsession, by evoking man’s darkest desires and curiosities. The comic awkwardness of hyper-masculinity is lampooned, as is the respect due to what seem to be small, inferior types. It is a triumph of mind over matter, via kinky cartoon characters, pools of semen, massive phalluses and hulky men.
Charlie Vazquez is a Brooklyn-based writer, part-time fetish clown and the assistant to Diamanda Galás--but really, he's nice.
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