Excerpts from  the Flasher photo shoot,

5 pictures for 77 Magazine

 Point of reference (or Pièce de Résistance, depending on your taste/interest) for these photos is Pompeo Batoni’s The Return of the Prodigal Son from 1773 in the permanent collection of the Kunsthistorische Museum in Vienna—a painting both AA and I love. Whereas in the Viennese panel (acquired directly from the artist right after it was finished, and permanently on view in the museum’s Italian Wing) the movement (and sentimental focus) is inwards and the returned Son forms a visual unity with Daddy, the motion in our photos is outwards. Where Batoni’s Mythical Figure uses his coat to embrace the Prodigal, Professor Bronson (as AA is jokingly called by his handsome husband Mark, who assisted in the making of these images) exposes himself with the aid of his coat and greets/embraces/addresses the world. This is a Monument for the Love of Gay Men of all generations, colors and body types, shot in Berlin Grunewald’s FKK and cruising area on January 15, 2018. Apart from all methodological and mythical reasons, the coat was also meant to keep our friend warm on this icy January day, especially as AA had recently recovered from a severe bout of bronchitis, hence the boots.

 AA Bronson was a member (and co-founder) of General Idea, the precocious boy group of International Contemporary Art, until the amazingly productive Trio Infernal ceased to exist due to the untimely death of AA’s two comrades-in-arms/arts in 1994. Rather than retreating to the position of a Brecht widower, he expanded the life of an artist, often working in changing collaborative settings—always under the umbrella of art as a mode of being, not a career to follow. The artist as guru, savant and healer. Bronson’s idea of QUEER is celebratory, sex-positive, festive, and inclusive. No exclusive definition needed. Berlin’s vast scene of sex-clubs has helped to call this city home, or Heimat. He is represented by Esther Schipper, Berlin, and Maureen Paley, London and Hove.

Matthias Herrmann is a ballet dancer turned artist/photographer, and a farmer, running an organic olive farm in Tuscany. His unrelenting love for the Italian Renaissance informs nearly every aspect of his life. Working mainly in photography, he has exhibited in institutional and commercial venues world-wide and published extensively. Brian Kenny dubbed him the “Fairy Godfather of (thirsty) Selfies”. He is represented by Silvia Steinek Galerie, Vienna.

By a twist of fate, although neither Bronson nor Herrmann were on the forefront of the fight for gay marriage, both are happily married (to gorgeous men, we might add).

MH

Características de la edición:

5 fotografías impresas en papel Munken Pure 150 gr; 47 x 32 cm
 (24 x 32 cm plegadas). Impresión digital, tinta con pigmento (4 x 4 tintas)

 pvp. 120 euros

1ª edición de 50 copias 

Diseño de Jordi Cots
Editor: Antonio Zúñiga 

77 Magazine, múltiple de fotografía. Cada número, dedicado a un solo autor, 
estará compuesto por cinco fotografías plegadas (47 x 32 cm); imágenes en la frontera entre
el material de estudio y la obra resuelta.
77 es el número de clasificación de los libros de fotografía en las bibliotecas. Partimos de esta
referencia para acercarnos, con nuestro proyecto, a un espacio de representación propio de la fotografía.
Es la idea de archivo como categoría desplazada por el discurso estético específico de la historia del arte.
Los trabajos proceden de creadores de distintos campos: fotoperiodistas, fotógrafos, pintores, arquitectos,
cineastas, diseñadores o escritores.