By Danny O'Connell

The Path, 1994.
Oil on panel, 21" x 15."

Burning Foundation, 1995. 
Oil on panel, 23" x 15."

Was that a coming-out phase?
Yeah. I can remember when I first painted a nude woman, and it was a big deal to me to paint the bare breast. And then I felt the same way when I painted my first dick.

Did you always have a desire to be sexual in your art?
Yeah, definitely. The issues of sexuality, eroticism, courtship and relationship are important in my work, always. Even when I was painting women, I painted women wrestling women or women and men flirting. It was always about etiquette, there was always this sexual tension informing everything. After awhile, I realized that my women looked more like men, so I started to paint men.

In a lot of your work, the figures look mythical — what is that all about?
Well, the last show I did at Leslie-Lohman was a whole series based on mythology: Greek myths and Indian myths, just mythological stories and famous subject matter based on our history. I pulled a lot of the reference out of old paintings, the figures are composites out of other paintings. I am really into the Italian Renaissance style, the old narratives, that kind of thing. The idea that each painting tells a story.

In the newer pieces I am doing, they are more like studies of men in the same posses as Madigliani and Matisse paintings. Their story is not as involved. The older paintings, the ones that are religious, there is complete allegory in them: allegory of coming out, or tension, or rescuing.

What mediums do you use?
I started out with acrylic, now I do all oil. I work on masonite. I draw a lot in pencil and then I fill in the paint. I paint, then draw, paint, and draw — like that. I draw on the wet paint.

What is this piece about?
That’s Snagged Nimbus, the nimbus is his holiness. The thing that makes him spiritual — the halo — is getting caught in these bushes, as well as the cloth that reveals his nudity. He has this vanity about himself; he works out a lot, but wants to cover himself and his sexuality. My idea in this painting was that as the bush pulls away his veil, and reveals his nudity, it also reveals his self-consciousness — it snags his halo.

That was my purpose in the painting, but I like the fact that someone else looking at the piece can see something different. Someone can see a completely different story. I like hearing the different stories, hearing what they come up with. That’s part of the excitement. The titles of my paintings have triple meanings, a little mystery.

Are these pieces part of the series?
Yeah. That’s The Path, the first of the LLGAF series. It’s about coming out.

Is that a strait jacket, I think?
Actually that’s a girdle: it’s a girdle as a straight jacket. Those bulls in the background are about sexuality, those two male bulls fighting each other. Those little feet flying off are about the abandonment of the guardian angel. This is a piece about coming out, about religion and where you find yourself.

If you believe in what the religion told you — what is good/ what is wrong/what is right — the guardian angel leaves you. It is an interpretation of the mythology. It’s about trying to find a new path. And then off to the side, there is a little path of hope.

This other piece is called Burning Foundations. There is a man tied into a structure, surrounded by these wooden beams, like a martyr. And also erotic. It’s about trying to live in a false structure.

What is the significance of religion in your work?
I would hate to see all that mysticism slip away. By interpreting them in different ways, there is still a lesson to be learned form St. Sebastian and others. I am interested in the folklore, what is the legend.

In a lot of your paintings the men are bald, is that a way of creating mythical figures?
(Laughing) No. It’s all about hating to paint hair.

I read an article about you recently, and it talked about your art in relation to HIV/AIDS. I don’t see any of that here.
Oh, that’s the sculptures. All the little sculptural pieces that I had done and some earlier paintings were about sexuality, death and pain. A lot of the earlier constructions were about dismembered figures/broken figures, and it was about sexuality, restraint, and fear. And then once I started to paint again, I stopped doing the AIDS reference because I felt I was perpetuating the fear instead of bringing any kind of resolution. So I decided to undo that and do more joyous pieces: more focused on sex, not death.

When I came to New York City, the environment of fear was more predominant. In Buffalo, it was very hush-hush. Coming to New York City effected my work That’s when I started doing these sculptures.

I decided that on the issue of AIDS I wanted to take all craft medium and household things — like doilies and fake roses. I wanted to make some pieces about very personal emotional issues, which were AIDS issues. That’s when I got into sculpture. At that time, I did one painting, but mostly sculpture.

Do you have work of men engaged in sex?
I have one of two men wrestling. I kind of like sexual tension more than the actual sex happening.

Was there any particular body of work that is very special to you?
I think it was probably the LLGAF series, where I was very comfortable showing male nudes — it was a non-issue to me. And I was telling my stories, talking about religion. I feel they were a very personal group. It was my style, I wasn’t following all the compositional rules. I was getting rid of all these rules and regulations that I placed upon myself when I was in graduate school. I was un-schooling myself. And that body of work, which took two years to create, was the most free, where I said, “so what if my work does have a decorative edge to it. Or, so what if my lines are a little curlier than realism.” I was letting myself completely be myself and let my figures become exaggerated. Some of the figures before were more formal and academic looking. In that series, I felt that my own style flourished.”

Has studying been important to you, has it helped improve your ability?
Yeah. I have an MFA. I studied painting, printmaking and drawing. My master’s is in painting and I minored in drawing.

Through studying, technically, I feel if I envision something, like special colors, I can get it. There was a long period when it was really frustrating, but now I feel I have my craft down. I mean, I still am always learning and I feel I constantly get better and better.

Do you make a living as an artist?
Hmm. Hmm. I used to work in the Christmas industry doing displays: painting and building props. And lately I have been commissioned, a lot of private commissions. People get to know me from the shows I do and contact me. I just finished a mural job in Florida. Then someone saw that work and it lead to other things.

I like assignment-oriented work. Even if it is a landscape painting, it becomes an interesting challenge. Whatever kind of job I get commercially, it always ends up influencing my work: that’s real exciting form me. I feel that because I paint so much out of my head, when I have to do research for a particular job, that becomes new information in my head.

So if you do a landscape, how does that relate to the work you do here? — ( I am referring to some of the homoerotic work.)

Oh, it’s my style. All these landscapes will have my style — with the people missing. And even though it’s not figurative, later the landscape may pop up behind a figure in another painting.

What role, if any, did LLGAF have in your career?
What’s nice about that, is that it played a role in me looking at my work being perceived as erotic. I felt my work found a place and was appreciated. In other shows, my work was seen as the homosexual piece in a weird way. At LLGAF, the homosexual part was the given, so people started to really look at my work beyond just a homosexual piece — they looked at all the other elements.

Is LLGAF relevant today, given the fact that artist, such as you, have shown their work and get to show their work in many other venues?
I still think we live in a world where homosexual work in the mainstream has a sort of a “sideshow” quality to it. I feel that Leslie-Lohman creates a completely different environment to view the work. It’s not, “Wow, look at that,” it’s a safe ground. And also, the acceptance thing that’s out there now, that could be a fleeting thing and can come and go. There is also the consistency of Leslie-Lohman as an archive and a place to show. The idea that it is grounded in history and legitimizes it: it’s not just some new thing that’s happening.

So what’s the next work we might see at LLGAF? What are you working on now?
This is a new series of large portraits based on American folk heroes. I want to do some of these big paintings and then do some situational paintings of activities of Johnny Appleseed, John Henry, and Paul Bunyan. I want to introduce nudity and evolve allegoric stories using their situations. Where as everything in the past was based on religious stories, now I want to use American folk stories.

I am trying with the portraits to maintain an eroticism, but by showing less. I was looking at the pin-up posters from the 40’s and 50’s and they don’t show a lot, but the poses, and a lot of suggestion. That’s what I want to do, everything would be Americana. I want to go from something very direct — like a portrait — and then go into something allegoric. That’s the plan!

Good luck with the plan Joe. We look forward to showing your new work!