Back to the theme of people abusing people in various ways. Men have been and are abused and often they tolerate that and keep their mouth shut.
I chose this image sending back to the years when NY was built by foreigners, mostly Italians. Back then the term of homosexuality was not invented and the practice of 2 men having sex was viewed in a completely different way than these days.
Just like in Japan, where sexuality did not define the person but it was “a thing” people did in various ways, many non-gay men at the beginning of the 20th century had sex with another man, and they were not disturbed by the act. Probably it happened from the beginning of times but our historic records speak of that mostly after the turn of the last century. Ask Walt Whitman.
The man in suit is a closeted sponsor of the building the young man works on. Could you say no to someone who hands your paycheck?
Oil painting on linen, upstretched. 29×47cm.
About the format: In the Japanese traditional culture, which I love and which inspires me, a Kakemono is the scroll of (vertical) paper hanging in a Tokonoma, the place in the house dedicated to displaying a flower arrangement (Ikebana) and a painting. The painting is often the calligraphy of a word, a short poem or an image.
I make a lot of my painting in this format so they can me directly attached to the wall or framed according to one’s choice.
Back to the theme of people abusing people in various ways. Men have been and are abused and often they tolerate that and keep their mouth shut.
I chose this image sending back to the years when NY was built by foreigners, mostly Italians. Back then the term of homosexuality was not invented and the practice of 2 men having sex was viewed in a completely different way than these days.
Just like in Japan, where sexuality did not define the person but it was “a thing” people did in various ways, many non-gay men at the beginning of the 20th century had sex with another man, and they were not disturbed by the act. Probably it happened from the beginning of times but our historic records speak of that mostly after the turn of the last century. Ask Walt Whitman.
The man in suit is a closeted sponsor of the building the young man works on. Could you say no to someone who hands your paycheck?
Oil painting on linen, upstretched. 29×47cm.
About the format: In the Japanese traditional culture, which I love and which inspires me, a Kakemono is the scroll of (vertical) paper hanging in a Tokonoma, the place in the house dedicated to displaying a flower arrangement (Ikebana) and a painting. The painting is often the calligraphy of a word, a short poem or an image.
I make a lot of my painting in this format so they can me directly attached to the wall or framed according to one’s choice.
