Monday, March 16, 2009

Erotically charged nostalgia


Posing with Antlers in 100 Year Old (Haunted Cabin) 2004

Hernan Bas loves pretty boys. I love pretty boys. He paints pretty boys. And I love his paintings.

If the band The Decemberists was a gay painter, the paintings would look like work of Hernan Bas. I first saw his work this weekend at the Brooklyn Museum after braving the chaos of weekend subway ride. Ken Johnson, art critic for the New York Times writes, "Hernan Bas paints and draws storytelling images of winsome young men in homoerotically charged situations...Combining loose, tradtitional draftsmanship, expressionistic brushwork and sometimes garish color, Mr. Bas creates pictures resembling illustrations for old-time boys’ adventure novels, but with a gay twist. A mood of romantic yearning prevails."


The Blue Line 2005-2006

Ocean Symphony 2007
This is a still image from a video installation of mermaids, that me and my friends found particularly hypnotizing. His work often uses images of the ocean and nautical life to harken back to a romantic past.


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