The HUN, Gohr, 4p4 #2, 2002
Pencil on paper, 8.5" x 11"
Collection LLGAF

The HUN, Imago Ransom, 1987
Pencil on paper, 11" x 8.5"
Collection LLGAF

Michael Kirwan, Car Park, 1999
Watercolor marker & ink on paper, 14" x 11"
Collection LLGAF

Michael Kirwan, First Time/Backroom, 2000
Watercolor marker & ink on
paper, 12.5" x 17"
Collection LLGAF

Rob Clarke, K9 Academy - Begging, 2002
Digital print, 11" x 8.5"

Rob Clarke, Self Sucking Cowboy, 1997
Watercolor and goauche, 11" x 8.5"

Howard Cruse, Wendel in the
Altogether, 2003
Digital print, 11" x 8.5"
Collection LLGAF

Howard Cruse, Suspended Nude, 1995
Ink on paper, 21" x 8.25"
Collection LLGAF

Deliciously Depraved, an aptly-named exhibition of the over-the-top S&M work of the legendary HUN and the delightfully naughty images of Michael Kirwan opened for a one-month run on March 18 [2002] at the Leslie-Lohman Gallery. [Also on view were Rob Clarke and Howard Cruse.] It was, one might say, an intimate exploration of the sharply contrasting visions of gay male sexuality, rendered in equally disparate artistic styles and media.

Reveling in the perversely embellished details of normally taboo S&M sex, THE HUN (a.k.a. Bill Schmeling) creates a voyeuristic world of forbidden fantasy in which the viewer can "participate" at a safely detached distance. Schmeling's work renders even the most extreme sexual situations with a fineness of line and idealization of the male physique that belies the erotic mayhem he portrays.

"I've been drawing naked men in various stages of undress, duress and excess since I was five, "says Schmeling. "Like many gay erotic artists, I learned anatomy in dimly lit places. When I was a kid during World War II all I had to do was go to the movies to see explicit bondage scenes. It was standard fare in American government propaganda newsreels, designed to show what we were fighting against. There were a good many scenes of American soldiers in Japanese prisoner camps being strung up and being hit with the butt of a rifle and I started doing my own versions of these scenes. Of course, I burned or buried all of them in the back woods because I knew it was a no no. I really envy Tom of Finland who kept some of his early works.

"In my 20s, I started drawing larger-than-life men with big muscles and big dicks under the name of Toro, imitating Tom of Finland's work that I saw in Physique Pictorial. Bob Mizer of the Athletic Model Guild published my work under the title, Battle of the Ape Men, in 1962. Later, in 1965, he published one of my works, Sentinel, on the back cover.

"Ten years later, with some hesitation, I showed my portfolio of Stud Market pieces to John Embry, founder and publisher of Drummer - and he loved them. It was, 'When can I get more,' and that's how The Hun was born. Kid Christopher of Stroke started publishing my work in 1985, including the Big Sig and the Work Farm and Shady Nook for Young Offenders. Then the Gohr character was created for Drummer and has appeared in other magazines since. Over the years about three dozen magazines have published my work. I've outlived a lot of the magazines I drew for.

"Good explicit drawing is a sexual experience for me. When I create a piece I'm telling a story which may or may not be translated into a written piece," says Schmeling, who unlike many erotic artists has written the stories that he illustrates. "For me the story is more powerful than the element of enjoying the drawing - and I can enjoy the drawing multiple times, just like my audience.

The Hun works displayed in the show included both preliminary sketches and finished drawings of Gohr cartoons depicting medieval sexual violence and torture, a series that has earned him a devoted cult following. Other drawings range from provocative mythological man-beasts to his "fine art" portrayals of beautifully muscular men in varied states of dishabille.

In marked contrast, MICHAEL KIRWAN finds a vibrantly vital world in the ordinary realities of gay erotic life. "My guys are stand-ins for everyone who's ever sucked a dick," writes Kirwan, whose images incorporate the lust, confusion, contentment, guilt, passion, and bonding that he observes in what he calls, "the homo realm." "I'd like viewers to recognize familiar situations and see a spark of their own lives displayed in my work."

"I think I'd call my work Rockwellian - a slice of Americana, sort of realistic but tweaked a little bit to make it more memorable, more comfortable, to the viewer. But a lot of people have compared my work to Paul Cadmus, like Paul Cadmus' little brother," he adds, a sentiment shared by this writer. In any case, Kirwan's work is clearly also about sex, and lots of it.

The realistic familiarity of his scenes draws on his constant observation of the men around him - on the street, at bus stops, in stores, at home, old, young, fat, thin, black, white, Latino, Asian, striking and homely. Unlike many gay artists, Kirwan deliberately avoids idealizing his subjects, portraying men of ages, races and appearances well outside the "Tom of Finland" mold. The result provides an exuberantly raunchy, yet tender window into typical gay sexual experiences instantly recognizable to any gay man but beyond the view of the larger straight world.

Kirwan does much of his vividly colorful work with markers and pens, which saturates the paper in a way that unintentionally allows his pictures to be viewed from the back as well as the front. The result is an almost cartoon quality tempered by a realism that comes from his intense involvement with the details of the people and situations he draws. A recurring secondary theme is the surprised and bemused reaction of a background character when he chances upon two highly aroused naked men in the foreground.

"When I create a picture I go to that scene," he says. "I become each character and see things from their point of view, even people in the background who have just stumbled into the room. When I draw someone I like to walk in their shoes, or sweat socks - and slip into their head set. I create a whole biography, family and life experiences that they've had, because sex doesn't happen in a vacuum, it happens in the space between real people in real places. That's why a lot of my backgrounds are so elaborate - it's part of the experience.

"I started drawing for publication when I picked up a copy of Stroke, the Rolls Royce of jerk off magazines and noticed that they had an open call for illustrations. I did 10 to 15 pictures and sent them in and they printed them. Then they wrote me and said they'd like to use my stuff more often. That was around 1990 when I had been fired from my job as a chef at a 5-star restaurant, and I've been a full-time artist ever since."