The Art of Ismael Álvarez

Writes Ismael on his official website:

My name is Ismael Álvarez. I was born in Ayamonte, Huelva, Andalusia, Spain. The son of a civil guard and of a gypsy mother, nothing else could come out than a restless ass like me. My mother is perhaps the one who gave me good handling of the pencil, since during pregnancy, while others have a craving for chocolate and the like, she took to drawing. She filled entire notebooks with voluptuous women, with big breasts, huge asses, and sex, a lot of sex.

I studied Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid, the city in which I have lived since I was very little. It is in Madrid where I started working as an illustrator, designer and photographer; going through the world of fashion, television and acting. Now living in Barcelona.

My work can be found in publications such as VOGUE Japan, Rolling Stone Magazine, The Sunday Times, Playboy, GayTimes, etc. I've always liked trying in different fields, that's why it's hard for me to say no to the different offers they offer me, and you can find me in an internationally famous magazine as well as in a photocopied neighborhood fanzine.

I love art, in all its aspects. I adore Gustav Klimt, Warhol and Lichtenstein. I am fascinated by Tom from Finland, he marked my professional and personal life, he is the god of homoerotic art. I adore the world of eroticism, and even pornography.

Related Off-site Link: Ismael Álvarez’s Official Website

See also: The Art of Stefano Junior | Saul Lyons | Alexis Vera | Mauna Nada | Ego Rodriguez | Liam Campbell | Richard Vyse | David Jester | Aaron Moth | Travis Chantar | Douglas Simonson | Guglielmo Plüschow | Vilela Valentin | Dante Cirquero | Nebojsa Zdravkovic | Brenden Sanborn | Wilhelm von Gloeden | Richard Haines | John MacConnell | Leo Rydell Jost | Jim Ferringer | Juliusz Lewandowski | Felix d'Eon | Herbert List | Joe Ziolkowski

Standing Hare

Image: Maggie Vanderwalle.

See also the previous posts:
• Standing Hare (2015)
• Standing Erect
• A Perfect Combination
• The Land Around
• Sacred Glade
• Harvest Blessings
• Winter Hare
• Moongazer

Bel Homme

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Silhouette

See also the previous posts:
• Hare in Morning Mist
• Afoot
• Song in Autumn
• Hare’s Breath

Image: Photographer unknown.

Faeries

The ancient festival of Samhain marked the last day of the Celtic year, with the rising of the sun on the following morning illuminating the New Year and the turning of the wheel. Samhain was a crucial time of year, loaded with symbolic significance for the pre-Christian Celts. As they watched the sun descend into the western skies, the symbolic inference was that of a descent into the Otherworld. This marked the thinning of the veil, as those within the Otherworld were free to roam the Earth. The Sidhe, (faeries as we know them, for we know so little of them) have the power of shapeshifting and were deemed able to walk among us, unknown and unrecognisable to mortals. Alongside them travel our ancestors and other spirits we fail to recognise. It is a night filled with magic!

– C. O'Neill

Related Off-site Link:
Hallowtide Reflections – The Wild Reed (October 31, 2020).

See also the previous posts:
• In the Image of the Horned God
• I Call to Cernunnos . . .

Images: Artists unknown except for images 11 and 15 which are by St. Jinx.

Running Hare

See also the previous posts:
• Running Hare I | II | III | IV
• Field Runners
• A Different Dimension

Image: Photographer unknown.

The Art of Stefano Junior

Notes Stefano Junior's official website:

Stefano Junior, is a fine artist and illustrator concentrating on cartooning and sequential art. He spent five years working in the publishing at Marvel Entertainment specifically working with collected and masterworks editions. He is drawn to the “transformative abilities of superheroes who live in a version of the real world, in which they are able to access potential which makes them better than they are. In that process, they benefit those that are around them.”

Stefano received his early training at the Ducret School of Arts as a youth and is an alum of the Parson’s School of Design with a certificate in Fine Arts. Currently he is completing his BFA in Cartooning at the School of Visual Arts. He teaches young adults the principles of cartooning at the Farmstead Arts Center. He also received sculpture training at the Art Students’ League in New Yotk and is a musician, performing as front man and songwriter for the band STEFANO and the TRUTH.

Related Off-site Link: Stefano Junior's Official Website

See also: The Art of Saul Lyons | Alexis Vera | Mauna Nada | Ego Rodriguez | Liam Campbell | Richard Vyse | David Jester | Aaron Moth | Travis Chantar | Douglas Simonson | Guglielmo Plüschow | Vilela Valentin | Dante Cirquero | Nebojsa Zdravkovic | Brenden Sanborn | Wilhelm von Gloeden | Richard Haines | John MacConnell | Leo Rydell Jost | Jim Ferringer | Juliusz Lewandowski | Felix d'Eon | Herbert List | Joe Ziolkowski

Night Visitor

Image: The Leveret.

See also the previous posts:
• Horace
• The Visitor

Morning Light

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Enchanted Night

Image: Sue Gardner.

See also the previous posts:
• All Is Enchanted
• Moonlight Hare
• Starlight Hare

Alireza Shojaian’s Richly Symbolic “Hamed Sinno et un de ses Frères”

“Hamed Sinno et un de ses Frères” by Alireza Shojaian. (Acrylic and color pencil on wood board, 150 x 220 cm.)

Notes Shojaian:

As a witness to the pregnancy of Gabrielle d’Estrées, a painting was commissioned and completed in the year of 1594. From an unknown artist, this painting shows Gabrielle d’Estrées in a bathtub with her sister pinching her nipple, in a sign of the upcoming motherhood while Gabrielle holds the ring of Henry of France, father of her soon to be child. This painting bears the same composition of a painting from 1571, “Diane de Paitieres” by Francoise Clouet.

Therefore, I decided to use the same composition as “Gabrielle d’Estrées et une des ses sœurs” to portray, in my very own way, a particular moment in our recent history when, during a concert by Mashrou’ Leila in Cairo on September 22, 2017, many concert goers were arrested by the police for waving the rainbow flag in support for the LGBTQ community during the performance. This governmental intolerance to this particular community is recursive in most Middle Eastern countries.

I captured this not-to-be documented event by dedicating this collaborative artwork to Hamed Sinno, the lead singer of Mashrou’ Leila and portraying him pinching the nipple of Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god, who holds Ankh, the symbol of immortality. The tree symbolizes the growth of this tolerance movement. In the background, the water fountain symbolizes water; the element that can take any form or shape yet can penetrate rock.

See also the previous posts:
• “A Painting of a Desired, and Desiring, Subject”
• “Like a Classical Sculpture”
• Symbol of Enlightenment

And at The Leveret's brother site, The Wild Reed, see:
• Coming Out in Africa and the Middle East
• Parvez Sharma on Islam and Homosexuality
• Omar Akersim: Muslim and Gay
• Progressive Perspectives on Islam and Homosexuality in the Aftermath of Orlando

Bel Homme

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.