It's a gay art supernova down at powerHouse tonight. Artist A.A. Bronson, Fischerspooner's Casey Spooner, fan favorite Bruce Benderson and gallerist Daniel Reich join powerHouse managing editor, Nicholas Weist for the BUTT-sponsored panel, "Them Boys".

The stellar panel revolves around the history and potential future of gay art. And at the center of this brilliant cosmos lies Peter Berlin - the artist whose iconic bulge burned up the art scene in the 1970s.

German born Berlin's performative self-portraiture worked people - including himself - into a lather. Berlin brought costumed cruising into the limelight, shining a celebratory light on gay sexuality. Berlin's fetishized identity comes into sharpest focus in his 1974 movie, That Boy. A prime example of Berlin's alluring approach, the flick highlights his manipulative compression of voyeuristic fascination and exhibitionistic narcissism.

In addition to the discussion, "Them Boys" will also be screening That Boy - the first public showing in twenty years. How's that for galactic?

Get the dazzling details after the jump. And don't forget our interviews with Bronson (parts one and two) , Benderson and, yes, Mr. Weist.)

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It's hard introducing Bruce Benderson.

The prolific author - whose most recent work, The Romanian, details his adventures with a younger sex worker in Romania and whose classic novel, User explores the world of drug-addicts and hustlers - has been published in more magazines than we can count, traveled all over the world, translates French texts like a pro (because he is) and has become one of the biggest names in media, Queer or otherwise.

How, then, can we provide words sufficient enough for such a potent addition to The Power Issue? Answer: we can't. Instead, we'll provided an email correspondence between our own Andrew Belonsky and Mr. Benderson, who asked that we not edit his answers. So, we haven't.

Aside from some spelling errors and more pressing grammatical issues, the words that follow have not been altered in any way. They're in the exact order in which they were posed and are followed by Benderson's precise responses. We've even included the bit where Benderson gets a bit cranky with one of Belonsky's inarticulate inquiries. (Now that's power.)

After the jump, see what Benderson has to say about Catholic and Protestant sexual sensibilities, gay liberation's unforeseen aftermath, the role of inequalities in desire, his new book, Pacific Agony and so much more we're finger-tied just thinking about it!

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