Leather Pride
by Michael Kirwan — November 4, 2012
The Palm Springs Leather Pride
Weekend
So pretty much by accident, I ended up going to
Palm Springs with the Tom of Finland Foundation guys to participate
in a Leather Pride Weekend event on Friday night. When they asked me
whether or not I'd like to go with them on Thursday, I hesitated
because a) there's little to no expressions of the Leather World in
my artwork so sales were unlikely, b) I hadn't done any mental
preparations for trotting out my public persona, c) I had nine
dollars to my name and didn't want to be a burden on my friends, and
d) I didn't have enough time to contact the people I know who live
in Palm Springs so we could meet up. But I went. Why not? It's not
like not drawing for a day or two would precipitate a significant
financial crisis and I might even unload a couple of
Just So Horny books.
Besides, PEOPLE WATCHING (specifically hot men)! Hahaha!
The event was held
and hosted at
The Tool Shed and it was about
twenty vendors hawking their various homo-wares in the parking lot.
We got there a bit late, rushed to put our tent up, and get our
displays organized before we could actually take in what was going
on. The outing was well attended, and the guys who showed up for
Leather Pride had every reason to be proud. These men took their
gear seriously. I'd never seen quite so many excellently outfitted
men in my life — not in New York, not in L.A., and certainly not in
Miami. It was a pretty spectacular sight. Hundreds of men done up
from their boots to their hats and everything in between looking
great. I had been lamenting the decline of the Leather Community
with Durk Dehner a couple of months back, but seeing so many guys
decked out to the nines (and quite a lot of younger ones sporting
black cowhide) has prompted me to revise my assessment. Leather may
no longer be as fashionable in the major cities, but wherever these
boys came from, they had expertly crafted gear available to them. I
was elated to see so many leather-clad studs congregating for this
celebration.
I talked with a lot
of people who had an affinity for art, sexual expression, identity
politics, and generally appreciated the brotherhood factor in Queer
World. There was a lovely woman, a sex therapist and artist, who was
contemplating moving from black & white pencil and ink work to
color. There was a very charming art teacher with some interesting
ideas about the value of the arts in education. I also got to spend
some time with my buddy
Tom Bianchi (always a delight and
he always seems to have some intelligent eye-candy in tow) as well
as a bunch of other folks who provided thought-provoking,
conversational entertainment.
The highlight of the
experience was (shockingly! Hahaha!!) a man. I saw him drifting
amiably through the crowd with some friends and my entire body went
on alert. I had to get closer to affirm that I was seeing what I
thought I did. I interrupted his group so that I could introduce
myself and get a better look. This guy was perfect. Beyond handsome
or beautiful, this person had hit the genetic jackpot (or rather his
parents had, but he had certainly maintained their creation
admirably), and he possessed the most perfect head I had ever
encountered in my life. Every facet, every plane, and angle, the
entire underlying structure was absolutely flawless. I beheld
mathematical genius in human form. For an artist, it's like
discovering King Tut's tomb to run across someone with this
extremely rare combination of absolute beauty. It was more than just
good symmetry, each feature on his face was not only perfectly
aligned but they each enhanced and complimented each other in an
extraordinary harmony. The cheekbones would have been great on their
own but they applauded the jaw line and celebrated the brow which
did similar duty to the bridge of his nose. Alone, each facial
component was amazing, but watching them act in concert was nothing
short of spectacular. I should have gotten at least one photo of
this guy (although I find that cameras really don't know what to do
with this level of perfection, they typically focus on irregularity
— of which this man was without) because I've already spent hours
trying to approximate what he had going on in my sketchpad. [HEY! IF
YOU'RE OUT THERE AND HAPPEN TO READ THIS, I NEED SOME PICTURES OF
YOU!!!] Perhaps it's impossible to render this man's perfection on
paper, I'll keep on trying, though. A sculptor might have a better
chance of memorializing this particular magnificence in art. Meeting
him was literally a breath-taking experience for me and trust me on
this... I enjoy studying all aspects of the human form but
this was something else all together.
So, yeah. I had a
great time out in Palm Springs. Next year, I'm going to try to
arrange to spend the entire weekend soaking in the various events.
Gotta get some new gear. Gotta create a dozen drawings that might
appeal to this crowd. I'll have to think about that a great deal as
I don't want just the usual hokey shit they've all seen a thousand
times before. I'll need to come up with a different approach to the
subject matter. And with any luck I'll run into that remarkable man
again. We'll see.
Later, Michael |