Life, they say, happens in an instant. And New York-based photographer Jeremy Kost's there to capture it. Readers have seen Kost's work here before - namely: his coverage of the Independent Spirit Awards.

The Texas-born artist doesn't spend all of his time on the red carpet, capturing celebs with his signature polaroid style. An aficionado of all things nocturnal, Kost has snapped many a New York night, producing thousands of images. A select few of those images made it into his show at The SoHo Grand: "Not a Play Area". Not a bad achievement for someone who fell into photography on a whim and - more surprisingly - for only about five years.

The 29-year old isn't stopping there, however. He's got loads up his sleeves. Read what he had to say about his seemingly bright future, intimacy and lending Andy Warhol a helping hand. But, first, the important shit: diet coke - can or bottle? Find out Kost's take, after the jump.

To see Kost's show, get that cute little tush of yours over to SoHo Grand. "Not A Play Area" will be up from this very second until April 15th. Plan accordingly. And, of course those of you looking to do a little cyber-stalking, you may be intrigued by his website: RoidRage.

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This isn't the first time Stuart Sandford's popped up here. You may recall him from The Narcissist Issue, in which he said:

I see sexuality as fluid. I don't define myself as gay, but I’m definitely far more attracted to men than I am to women. I don't think it's always important to define yourself as one of the other. It's a societal construct and the main reason we do this is to get sex. So let's keep experimenting, not just in our youth, but also throughout the rest of our lives.

Sound advice, we think, particularly for all you artists out there. Don't forget we're always open for your creative contributions. So, send some images to that schmuck editor of ours - it'll make his day.

As for Sandford, he took these shots during an artist residency in Rotterdam. Sounds like a lovely place. Take a look at some other snaps, after the jump...

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We're not sure if you've heard, but today's Valentine's Day. Yeah, we know, it can be a bit depressing for the lonely hearted, but that doesn't mean you can't celebrate your platonic love for things.

So, throughout the day we'll be sharing some of our non-romantic loves. For example, American painter Thomas Eakins. Born in Philadelphia in 1844, Eakins went on to become one of our nation's most revered realists, concocting scenes so vivid one can almost imagine diving on in, as seen above in "The Swimming Hole".

While it's hard to pin down whether or not Eakins got down with the guys, his artistic eye certainly lent itself to the homo fantasy. Come on, how many straight guys do you know who paint a group of naked lads frolicking by a lake? For reals...

Showing at New York's Daniel Cooney Gallery, lesbian artist Suellen Parker's "Incurable" addresses the ubiquitous desire for perfection: the unending quest for the perfect tan, body and life. Though not necessarily the most original of concepts, the Georgia-based artist's work deserves a little recognition for its multilayered approach. Parker explains herself on her website:

The media I have chosen are significant to both the process and the meaning of the work. The characters are first formed in plasteline clay, which never dries. This allows me to continually manipulate features and forms, paralleling our bodies' constant state of change over time and our attempts to cover up, reshape, and alter our appearances. Next, a picture is a taken of the sculpture... My use of the photograph demonstrates leaves out informations about the realities of the situation and freezes that moment in time.

From there, Parker digitally implants pictures of human eyes, giving them an emotive eeriness that breathes fresh life into a tired subject.

Suellen Parker, "Having a Ball (Keep On Keeping On)" from Incurable, showing at Daniel Cooney Fine Art (511 West 25th Street, Suite 506) through March 3rd, 2007.

We were just paying a visit to our oh-so-sexy friends at My Comrade and learned something very interesting: New York City's Clampart Gallery will be presenting an exhibit of legendary art-fag James Bidgood's work. Most well known for his 1971 film, Pink Narcissus, which revolves around the masturbatory fantasies of a down on his luck prostitute, Bidgood's earned quiet a cult following. Although, it wasn't always thus: when the film first debuted, Bidgood neglected to attach his name, leading many to assume the film came from Andy Warhol.

It wasn't until Taschen published a book of Bidgood's work that he publicly came out at the man behind the queer favorite. In a 2006 interview, Sean Fredric Edgecomb asked Bidgood what he thought of the Warhol rumors, to which Bidgood replied:

Pink Narcissus doesn’t look anything like Warhol. First of all he would never put that much effort into anything, and that always annoyed me, the first reason that I don’t like things. That’s why I’m a very old corny guy, because if my Aunt Mabel could do it, it ain’t worth doin’, and for God’s sake, I loved my Aunt Mabel, I just figure if you’re going to be in a gallery, you should be able to do more than my Aunt Mabel could do.

He's got a point there.

Anyway, if you're interested, the show's running from January 4th-February 17th at Clampart (521-531 West 25th St). For more information, check out their website.

Bleck, that Massachusett's gay-nup votes just g-r-o-s-s GROSS!! To quell the burning sensation in our tum-tums, let's take a look at the work of E. Gibbons. We have to admit, we weren't too familiar with Gibbons' work until he sent us an email asking us to check out a YouTube slideshow of his work.

Proponents of shameless self-promotion, we headed on over to look at what we expected to be the typical male nudies, thinking, "Great, another art-fag who relies on a little penis and a provocative pose for their so-called 'art'." Well, we stand corrected - Gibbons' work eschews the banality of overtly sexual position, relying instead on sensual sublties. We asked Gibbons to provide a little more context for his work and he sent us back quite a response, which we've pasted after the jump.

If you'd rather live your life in a haze of ignorance and get straight to the meat of the matter, click here for a little afternoon delight. Oh, and if you're a lover of the ladies, never you fear, he's got a "female" version here.

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Sure, everyone's looking forward to a new year, but let's not forget the years gone by, like the 1970s. Why not relive the decade of decadence by heading over to the Queer Cultural Center and checking out their pages on Hal Fischer? A queer artist and theorist, Fischer turned his lens on the cultural iconography of the gay 70s. Of the project, Fischer wrote:

The gay culture's new visibility has exposed a subculture developing its own myths, cultural heroes, stereotypes and sign language (semiotic). Long before the current women's journals began picturing naked men as sex objects, gay magazines were exploring aspects of male eroticism. And since gay men needed a method to communicate sexual preferences, a sexual semiotic was developed.
...
Like the straight culture, gay culture has evolved a set of public, sexual prototypes. In gay magazines men are pictured in situations which were initially inspired by established male fantasies. Within the gay community certain characteristics of the fantasy have been adopted as fashion, thereby creating a 'gay look', i.e. Gay Prototype, the cowboy; Contemporary adaptation, flannel shirts, jeans, short hair.

While we no longer wear bandanas as a code for sexual proclivity, most of these social emblems still exist today. In fact, we're wearing flannel right now. It's purple. So, what does that say about us? Well, according to Fischer, we're channeling American archetypes of pioneering masculinity. Although, we're also wearing high heels and a beehive wig. Something must have gotten lost in translation.

That whole Nigerian story's pretty ugly, no? To counteract the depressing reality that is a possible gay execution, we'd like to distract ourselves (and, hopefully, you) with a look at California-based painter Jim Winters.

Above you see a painting entitled "Eight Eyed Lenore," a perfect example of Winters' unique blend of the surreal, pop art and color-saturation. Though Winters spends much of his time painting, he's not adverse to working in other media. In fact, he's got an entire line of lamp shades and rugs. Pretty groovy, right?

It's worth noting that we first heard of Winters through our old friend Timothy Cummings. The boys have been comrades in art for years now and, hopefully, for many more to come.

If you like what you see, head on over to Jim Winters' website.

We first came across this video, entitled "Inner Limits" back on November 9th. We're certain of the date because we sent a note to the artist, 44-year old German "art2themax" lauding the work and asking for a little background. Continuing the never ending story that is our lives, we never got a reply.

Thus, all we can say about this video is what the art2themax wrote on YouTube: "196 stills used to make my movie. Art at work!"

Art at work, indeed. Enjoy!

We were having a lovely electronic chat with our artist friend, Ryan Greene, the other day and we asked him to recommend an artist for you, our darling readers. As you saw in The Narcissist Issue, Greene's poised to become one of the great artists of his generation, thus when he suggested Mathew Cerletty, we hopped on over to Cerletty's site faster than you can say art-fag.

Rather than tell you what we think of the 26-year old Wisconsin born, New York based figurative painter, we're going to post a few of our favorites, as well as the link to Cerletty's site, and let you draw your own conclusions. (Get it, draw. Shit, we can't believe the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association didn't even give us an honorable mention!)

Oh, and for those of you over in England between October 6th and November 4th, swing by the Royal Academy of Arts to see Cerletty's work in the group show, USA Today.

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Loyal readers know we've got as much of a hard on for art as we do for history, so why not celebrate the beginning of Gay History Month by celebrating a historic artist? Yeah, we thought it was pretty clever, too.

This is George Platt Lynes, a gay photographer who made a living with fashion photography, but satisfied his artistic soul with sexy shots of nude men. Born in New Jersey, Lynes traveled to Massachusetts for a bit of education and from there to Paris, where he hung in some of the most talented and glamorous circles. Upon his American return, Lynes opened a book store, from which he expected to start a literary career. Little did he know that his photographic hobby would lead to a successful career shooting for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and The American Ballet.

Of course, we suspect that you're a little more interested in his nudie work. Working from the 1920s into the 1950s, it's no surprise that Lynes kept much of his work concealed, lest his homosexual ways draw too much negative attention. Despite his trepidation, Lynes couldn't shake his deep interest in human sexuality and worked with Dr. Alfred Kinsey, the legendary doctor whose pioneering studies changed the way we look at sexuality forever.

Lynes destroyed many of his prints and negatives, fearing a gay legacy in the wake of his death. Like some fabulous cockroach, some of his work survived and continues to astonish viewers with their provocative poses and deliciously gay subtext. It's a shame poor Lynes never knew how much later generations would enjoy his work, no?

See a few select images after the jump. And check out the George Platt Lynes site to learn more about this extraordinary artist and his homo ways. Or, you can just remain philistines until the end of time. The choice is yours, really.

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German born artist Matthias Herrmann's most well-known for his penis. That's because his particularly photogenic member peppers (peckers?) his work liberally.

While one may assume Herrmann's work seeks only to further his own image, a little research suggests the opposite. In an interview with Butt Magazine from a few years back, Herrmann says:

A lot of people get this hyper-masculinity and vanity out of my work, more than I do. I’d like people to see that it’s not about me as some kind of porn stud. It’s vulnerability. It’s not about gaining power, but more about displaying masculine power in order to take it away...Obviously there are two opposite ways of approaching my work, but my intention is always to put things into question, by displaying them.

Dressing up as various characters and iconographic figures, Herrmann attempts to transcend physical and cultural boundaries through subversion and perversion. Whether or not he's successful is for the reader to decide.

While we love his penis play, we're especially intrigued by the 1994 series from which the image above originated. That there's semen. (Or, as a reader suggested for Gay Speak, "the snack that swims.") Ejaculate never looked so good. (Okay, okay, maybe it has...but still.)

For more on Matthias Herrmann and his work, check out his website.