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Ah, France! Beauty, architecture, history, romance, food and wine,  museums, art….these are all things that come to mind when I think of France. And of course, Pierre et Gilles, my favorite artists of all time!
The fabulously gay French duo have been creating homoerotic eye-popping art for 30 years now. 

 Pierre et Gilles create dreamy portraits that transport their subjects—as well as the viewers—into an alternate world where camp, pop, burlesque, religion, and eroticism mingle in perfect harmony. Visual fantasies don’t get much richer than the sexy, glittery retouched photographs by French collaborative team. Creating the sets themselves, and with Pierre as photographer and Gilles as painter/elaborator, they create one-of-a-kind artworks of an unmistakably original style. Since the mid-1970s when these two handsome men met, fell in love and began making art together, they’ve produced a consistently sensuous body of work that’s an unabashed mix of commercial and high art, glamour, poetry and homoeroticism.

Famous and not so famous actors and actresses, musicians, and porn stars have all posed for Pierre et Gilles. A host of stars has passed before their lens, such as Iggy Pop, Madonna, Marc Almond, Nina Hagen, Catherine Deneuve, Laetitia Casta, Marilyn Manson, Mireille Mathieu… though many of their portraits also feature unknowns and/or up and coming beautiful people.

Much more than just an exhibition catalog, this book brings together all of the 130 works included in the exhibition as well as an additional 170 pieces focusing on the past ten years.  460 pages, this whopping 7#   tome is a must-have “bible” on every coffee table! – Also included is a tribute text by the artist Jeff Koons.

They play with stereotypes of religion, sexuality and culture and draw from numerous genres for their inspiration. They play irreverently with our perceptions of religion and pop culture, juxtaposing the secular and non-secular, the saint and the sinner, the divine and the depraved. It’s magical. It’s sexy. It’s beautiful!

There was a wonderful photographer in the 60’s by the name of James Bidgood. A sylized precursor to David LaChappelle and Pierre et Gilles, James really revolutioned gay male erotic imagery. In a tiny studio apartment, he created fantasy lands! BEFORE photoshop. Vibrant colors and wild props he brought home from his job at Macy’s, were his signature. It is said James inspired P&G.


      


Pierre et Gilles David LaChappelle James Bidgood Turbo Tagger