One comment that I got about the pre-launch posting was how young and hairless the muscle-men were, so this week's posting of “Images of Masculinity” is a tribute to bears from four artists and photographers from the US, Mexico and Argentina.
- Please visit all of the featured artist and let them know how you appreciate their contributions to the Blog.
I won't go deeply into the endless debates that gay men have about what constitutes a “bear”, but it's worth a mention. In the interests of disclosure, I should mention that at 60, I am a “daddy-bear”, so I've been involved in this debate for a good thirty years.
Some men say that a bear is any man who is hairy. Richard Simmons has a hairy chest, and I refuse to call him a bear.
News photo from the Internet
Some just say any burly man is a bear – fat or muscle is their criteria. I am of the school that insists that a bear is defined by masculine attitude.
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Bear Proud |
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Leather 2010 |
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Halloween Devil (Ralph 2) |
By contrast, let me introduce the work of Argentinian photographer Diego Lema http://quemas.deviantart.com/ , first with this self portrait, Venus As A Boy.
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Venus As A Boy |
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Julio 18 |
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Marzo 2 |
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and this one... Illusion |
Next comes some paintings from an old friend, James Michael McCracken of St. Petersburg, Florida. I start with his self portrait, being a bit bearish himself. He was kind enough to allow me to use one of his painting as the cover for my first self-published book (see my regular blog http://www.ikerose.com for details on getting discounted or free copies).
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OUT – Nation Coming Out Day 2010 |
He creates some very interesting images of men in isolation....
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Send up to Tom Of Finland |
I hope you enjoyed my tribute to BEARS and male-fur.
WEEKLY NOTE:
THE ARCHIVES FOR "IMAGES OF MASCULINITY" ARE NOW KEPT ON : http://masculineimages.blogspot.com/
Visit to find past postings...
YOU CAN LEAVE POST SPECIFIC COMMENTS THERE, TOO.