Events

The Artist

Talk to Me

Read an essay by Michael Kirwan

originally published for the

Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation

 


     

    PERFECTLY FLAWED
    by Michael Kirwan

     

    The Theme
    Human beings are genetically programmed to identify and appreciate those members of the species that exhibit pleasing symmetrical facial structures, young healthy bodies and physical strength because these qualities hold the promise of delivering the most successful offspring. The notion of "Classic Beauty" is a cultural attempt to illustrate and highlight the corporeal properties most admired by a given population, the features and aspect most desired for optimum mating purposes. The idealized perfect form of either a male or a female is essentially a sublime guide to choosing a sexual partner, a visual standard by which attractiveness is judged. In essence, the iconic individual serves as a symbolic representation of calculated procreation in society.

     

    One of the paradoxes of the homosexual mutation (referring only to the males, I do not consider lesbians) is that generally we are much more sensitive to and aware of the balance and refinements that constitute "Perfection" despite the fact that our sexual activities do not result in breeding. We are keenly responsive to physical beauty for no apparently rational reason since cocksucking and buttfucking have never produced a genetic melding. All of the biological components that contribute to a man's personal magnetism are completely irrelevant to acts of sodomy. Hence, the entire concept of a queer version of the "Ideal Man" is specious at best. A pointless exercise in lauding form over function, a frivolous enterprise with no actual "end game" as all the attributes being celebrated are both short-term gilding and don't in any way guarantee a satisfying fuck or even amiable companionship. The only practical function of a queer "Dream Boy" is to serve as an animated accessory, a position devoid of any dignity or respect. This gay fascination with masculine beauty eludes me. Proximity and willingness are the criteria I most react to, if a guy is hard and happy to share my company he's as beautiful as I need him to be.

     

    The Drawing–All That Glitters
    The main subject of this drawing could just have easily appeared as an Asian,an old man with a potbelly, a chiseled Nordic type, a tattooed street vagrant with missing teeth, an African Bushman, an eighth grader or a dwarf. What I get a hard-on for is extremely fluid. In the course of a stroll to the Post Office I can usually come across ten or twenty males that seem perfect to me as I look at them. The boy is "blue" because he is unreal (and I thought that indicating a particular skin tone as being "ideal" would insult those of a different shade). Although I don't usually critique or analyze my artwork, I would suggest that the intention of this piece is that one may indeed focus on beauty but needn't be oblivious to everything else in the surrounding world or one might just miss some incredible sights and patterns. And it's pretty. As an illustrator I normally do more involved scenes as more information can be gleaned from a character interacting with the background and other people, so doing a single figure drawing is extremely rare for me. But the "Ideal Man" has no connections to anything (except perhaps some hyper-masculine accessories) or anyone. He exists solely to be studied and admired by the viewer. But sometimes what's beyond him may actually be more fascinating…

     

    The Artist
    Michael Kirwan was born in New York City on December 27th, 1953. He drew on paper bags with ballpoint pens to escape his creepy childhood and create a universe where he felt safe. Sexual imagery began appearing in his doodles and sketches when he was eight or nine. He would draw naked women for the neighborhood boys so he could watch them fumble with their junior erections.

     

    A distant and aloof teenager, he preferred his drawn world to the actual one. Michael didn't have any art instruction and was leery that his individual style might be compromised if he studied art, so he didn't. At seventeen he was married, the following year he became a father. He was divorced five years later. A radical liberal, quasi-communist, Utopian anarchist, and anti-"Establishment" isolationist, Michael worked at a few labor- intensive occupations and drew only for his own amusement. In the early eighties, having embraced the concept of a 'gay community' while working at the St. Marks Bathhouse, he was exposed to homoerotic imagery and thought he might be able to make a couple of extra bucks. He was first published in Stroke magazine in 1984. In 1990 circumstances lead him to becoming a full-time freelance illustrator for skin magazines. Since that time his work has regularly been featured in Freshmen, Mandate, Honcho, Playguy, Torso, Inches, Adovacte Men, Blueboy, Dude, Allboy, Badpuppy, as well as lesser known titles like Drummer, Little Sissy, Red Tails, G-Men, SM-Z, Bad and even a few that he's completely forgotten. His art has also been seen in a number of straight magazines such as 18 and Eighteen.

     

    Michael Kirwan has had his work included in multi-artist exhibits in Portland, New York, Miami and Los Angeles over the past ten years. Unfortunately, due to his lifelong fondness for gin and his total disdain for any form of practical record-keeping, accounting, business (or personal) management or archiving, the actual dates and details of these many glorious events are unavailable at this time.
    Mr. Kirwan currently resides in Miami Beach and looks forward to one day expatriating to Costa Rica or Spain where he can serenely draw sexually explicit homoerotic images until his candle is ultimately extinguished.


Events

The Artist

Talk to Me

 

 

Any images, writings or other content on this website may be copied for personal viewing only. They may not be: redistributed; sold; altered; enhanced; modified by artificial, digital or computer imaging; used on another website or blog; posted to any internet or computer newsgroup, forum or media sharing site; nor used for any other purpose without the express written permission of the artist or KirwanArts.com.

Any images, writings or other content on this website may be copied for personal viewing only.
They may not be: redistributed; sold; altered; enhanced; modified by artificial, digital or computer imaging;
used on another website or blog; posted to any internet or computer newsgroup, forum or media sharing site;
nor used for any other purpose without the express written permission of the artist or KirwanArts.com.