Posted By Ron Suresha on June 8, 2010
“To love hair is human; to fur-give is divine.”
Hair: Hairy Men in Gay Art (Hardcover)
Of the many successful books Bruno Gmünder Verlag GmbH has produced HAIR is likely one of the most original. In this appreciation for hirsute men the introductions by Ron J. Suresha and Jim Kempster set the tone by summoning the past century’s view of the ‘presentable male’, traversing the days when natural appearance was in order and progressing through the stage when gleaming shiny bodied weight lifters graced the magazines, to the latter part of the century when shaving the hair of models took center spot, to today, when there is a combination of camps of those who appreciate the hairy chest and arms of some of the popular actors and those who prefer the near marble state of the models who shave every hair every place.
What makes this book a pleasure to read and observe is the mixture of photography with illustration and with frank cartoons, such as those made famous by Tom of Finland. Among the many fine photographers represented here by their more unshaven models are Dylan Rosser, Tom Bianchi, Joe Oppedisano, Felix Drobek, Jim Kempster himself, and Jeff Palmer as the better known ones, given space along side the very creative photographers Burt Sun, Isauro Cairo, Joan Crisol, Bubba Clicks, and Vincent Keith — to mention only a few. In the field of raunch art, beside that of Tom of Finland, are both back and white and full color images by ‘The Hun’, Sepp of Vienna, Charlie Hunter, Harvey Redding, Rafael Lopez, Xavier Gicquel, and Fred Bisonnes. Artists, in film and in drawing, are from around the world and represent some of the most entertaining statements on the subject that have been collected.
There is humor in abundance here, as well as a lot of eroticism, mixed with some very beautiful photographic images of models who shun the razor. It makes a big impact and will definitely be a collector’s item for Bears and those who love them. A fascinating and edgy book, beautifully designed and produced. Grady Harp, June 10
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