Paul Richmond is an artist I always adore and admire.  I finally connected with him earlier this week, mostly just to say howdy.  We spent most of the morning exchanging message.  It turns out the publishing company he works for was looking for photographic work as cover art for some of their publications and I was very interested in featuring him as one of the artist in this project.  By the end of the day he had sent me a selection of his images and I was able to create a gallery of his work.  I love his images, they are filled with so much color and the concepts are hysterically funny.  He plays on images we are all familiar with and twists to fit within our on gay mythology.  I know growing up in Montana there were no iconic images that even hinted at anything gay, it what kept so many of us in the closet and fearful of coming out.  Now Paul has taken those marketing concepts and fashioned them into what I think are brilliant gay iconic art.  They are playful, they hint at the naughty and they are revealing, often exposing men’s bare bums.  The subject’s faces often filled with shock in a feigned innocent compromising vulnerability.
Paul’s history has been primarily as an illustrator.  He illustrated comic books as well as probably hundreds of pulp fiction style book covers.  Paul now live in Columbus, Ohio with his partner Dennis Niekro and teaches painting classes.  I wish I didn’t live so far away I would love to take a class from a master like Paul.  Last summer Paul had a show with friend and other featured artist Tom Acevedo in P Town.
This morning I feel I am getting back on track now with this project.  It has always been my vision to create a community of like-minded artists and begin showcasing their amazing talents.
VIEW PAUL’S GALLERY OF WORK ON THE NAKED MAN PROJECT
READ PAUL’S BIO ON THE NAKED MAN PROJECT