HISTORIC HOMOEROTIC HALL of FAME NOMINEE:
The next artist be be honored with a gallery within the HeroesNHunks Homoerotic Hall of Fame (as a noteworthy trailblazing international artist who had a major contribution to the advancement of homoerotic art) is… Beau.
The mysterious Californian painter and illustrator usually known as BEAU (a.k.a. Beau Bell, a.k.a. ?) was born in 1959 to a wealthy family… his mother was an independent and beautiful, southern debutante who "looked like Dietrich, smoked like Davis, and behaved like Bankhead," while his Banker father was an entitled and supremely privileged snob with an exclusive Manhattan and Boston pedigree. Either by example or lack thereof, the unhappy (according to Beau) pair certainly taught him one thing… to enjoy the finer things in life. Even his pseudonym (presumably) is French for male beauty.
Described as a sexual "maverick" and "very attractive and wealthy man in his 50s," Beau the artist and the man seems to do his best to enjoy the good life to the fullest. He once asked and answered the most important question… "Who would decline an invitation to life’s grand discothèque? I certainly didn’t. Why should you?" Famed homoerotic publisher Bruno Gmunder invited Beau up to the show with a multi-volume set collecting his works – Beaumen, Beaumen 2 and Beaumen – Beau (a collection of presumably unsendable? postcards). Link chain will lead to available copies.
Many of the lush, expressive Beau images gathered in this gallery and collected in the volumes Beaumen and Beaumen 2 were created to illustrate the wildly erotic stories of 90s gay magazines such as Advocate Men, Freshmen and Torso. The artists’ own arousal is apparent in his work – and his horny "carpe diem" themed quotes seem to infer interaction with his many muscular muses.
As young man in Manhattan, Beau soon found "The Village" a frequent and liberating refuge. He found himself accepted despite his "class, appearance, and blue blazered mind," and soon began a gateway romance with a charming rogue who played "Big Daddy" to his Protege and introduced him to a new world of literary celebrities, drugs and worldly conversation in dim smoky rooms.
Beau’s intense scenes of dominance and submission provoke and envelop the voyeuristic viewer into a world filled with dark fantasies of of power and devotion. His entirely "American, Hollywoodesque style" unleashes primal gay archetypes upon the viewer yet manages to explore beyond mere fetish and flesh and capture the yearning for love and physical contact behind the unforgiving façade of sexual desire.
His nighttime forays into The Village garnered Beau a bit TOO much attention and after some "private" photos were published in some "less than mainstream" magazines, Beau blew town and tried to lay low in Berkeley and San Francisco, even spending some time in an ashram. None of these destinations did much to placate his angry father and Beau found himself shipped off (and booked Coach no less) to "Southern California to live with the savages in disgrace."
Family connections set him up with a highly lucrative writer/producer deal at Paramount, which despite a lack of ability or sucess allowed untouchable access to the hidden rooms of Hollywood, and anywhere the family clount didn’t get him in, his "tight jeans, velvet shirts, and longish golden hair" opened doors. He arrived a "fan" but soon, his time in Hollywood helped him brush the stars out of his eyes and into his bed.
Beau suffered a tragic car accident in 2002 and has been unable to continue painting – a true loss to the future annals of homoerotic art. According to information found over at Beautiful Mag he went on to a new photography career. I’ll amend this article once I have additional info on where to find Beau’s photographic works, but thus far I am unable to find current info on him (aside from his current obsession/understanding with his "enigmatic mercurial delinquent"… Sebastian).
via GayEroticArtLinks, diary.ru, bgay HomoeroticMuseum, HotMaleToons, CreateArtGallery, BeautifulMag, GayArtCollection, EroticArtCollection and Area51