The Airbrushed Homoerotica of Pierre et Gilles.
French couple Pierre et Gilles are arousing and inspiring the world with their airbrushed irreverent homoerotica.
Cover photo: Magical Mirror (Olivier Rousteing), ink-jet photograph printed on canvas and painted, by Pierre et Gilles (2015). © Pierre et Gilles
This article is part of my 30 Living Queer Artists Worth Celebrating in 2019 series. June is Pride Month, commemorating the international gay rights movement that began June 28th, 1969, with the Stonewall riots of New York. 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the event. I’m celebrating all month long!
WARNING: The following article features and/or discusses graphic nudity, pornography, homoerotica, and sex.
Prométhée (Luizo Vega), ink-jet photograph printed on canvas and painted, by Pierre et Gilles (2013). © Pierre et Gilles
Le petit bal (Quentin Bruhat & Izae), ink-jet photograph printed on canvas and painted, by Pierre et Gilles (2015). © Pierre et Gilles
Le Printemps Arabe (Tahar Bouali), ink-jet photograph printed on canvas and painted, by Pierre et Gilles (2011). © Pierre et Gilles
Pop Dreamers
French duo Pierre et Gilles are known for their baroque saccharine portraits. Their painted photos are characterized by saturated colors and elaborate set design. The two have perfected their craft over forty years of living and working together. Pierre Commoy and Gilles Blanchard met in 1976 — at the inauguration of the Kenzo boutique in the Place des Victoires — and instantly fell in love and began to collaborate professionally.
The pair’s art is easily recognizable, described as international, religious, and exotic. Pierre et Gilles often combine camp and gay erotica with religious iconography from Christianity, Hinduism, and Greek mythology. Gilles affirms, “We create images that mix reality, daily life, dreams and fantasies.”
Much of their art is homoerotic fantasy, frequently featuring nude males with defined muscles covered in an assortment of bodily fluids. Pierre et Gilles have styled their subjects like deities, sailors, martyrs, soldiers, saints, gladiators, and gods.
Models are often friends or acquaintances but Pierre et Gilles have also created numerous portraits of celebrities, including queer icons like the late pornstar Koh Masaki, singer Conchita Wurst, and fashion designer Marc Jacobs.
Pierre et Gilles’ use of religious iconography, coupled with intricate frames, make the models appear like venerable objects in a celebration of pop culture and cult of personality. Pierre et Gilles pursue the idea that man is made in the image of God.
Gilles explains that their mission as artists is “to lift people up, to make them dream, as reality is very tough. Everyone is a bit of an artist at the end of the day; everyone invents a dream. We need artists to live – we need works of art, music, performances, poetry, painting. It’s very important, and life would be terrible otherwise if there was no art. We really need it. Everyone needs it.”
Lost in Paradise (Koh Masaki), ink-jet photograph printed on canvas and painted, by Pierre et Gilles (2014). © Pierre et Gilles
Crazy love (Conchita Wurst), ink-jet photograph printed on canvas and painted, by Pierre et Gilles (2014). © Pierre et Gilles
Funny balls (Marc Jacobs), ink-jet photograph printed on canvas and painted, by Pierre et Gilles (2012). © Pierre et Gilles
Pierre et Gilles’ home studio in Le Pré-Saint-Gervais, Paris, France (2014). Photo by François Goizé for Vanity Fair. © François Goizé
Process
The couple works in their own home. Pierre takes the photos with his Mamiya 6x7 medium-format camera, prints the works on canvas, and Gilles paints the pieces by hand. Between building sets, arranging lighting, and making frames, each work takes about a month to create. Amazingly, no Photoshop or digital manipulation of any kind is involved.
The two began their photo-and-paint process in the 70s during their first collaborations. Printing was not as advanced as it is today and the two were unsatisfied with color reproduction. Gilles painted on the photographs and has done so for all artworks ever since.
The final image is often the result of an organic process between the duo and their subject. Gilles explains, “It’s the model who inspires us. Sometimes we have an idea and we look for the model to match but, more often, it’s the model who incites a desire or an idea in us. It’s a discussion. We like to know the person before working with them.”
About their 2014 Heroes series, Gilles says, “One of [the models] wanted to be Leonidas, another one Achilles, another one Batman. At the end of the day, they all wanted to be a hero.”
“Our work is always an icon around a person, or a group of two, three or four people at the maximum, but it is always around this. It’s an obsession for us. I like the bodies of athletes a lot, beautiful proportions, but we can also do fragile bodies. If we were asked to do a sumo, I’d love it. We like differences and we often do people of very different origins. We have had models from all countries, all races. This difference interests us.” The duo has frequently used their work to fight homophobia, racism, and intolerance.
Still from the film Pink Narcissus, starring Bobby Kendall, directed by James Bidgood (1971). Courtesy of Deptford Cinema.
Matador (Fernando Leonne), ink-jet photograph printed on canvas and painted, by Pierre et Gilles (1999). © Pierre et Gilles
Influences and Early Work
Pierre et Gilles began their careers in advertising and fashion photography for magazines like Facade, capturing Andy Warhol and Iggy Pop. The couple’s personal work drew much inspiration from the seminal 1971 film Pink Narcissus, an erotic underground arthouse piece, by James Bidgood (originally uncredited).
The film — devoid of any dialogue — follows a self-obsessed young man in a dreamlike sequence exploring his homoerotic fantasies of bathroom cruising, leather daddies, and matadors. The vibrant colors, elaborate sets, and challenging cinematography made Pink Narcissus an immediate cult masterpiece.
Bidgood had moved to New York in 1951 where he worked as a costume designer, drag performer, and photographer. He filmed the work in his apartment, near Times Square, starring local male prostitutes. Bidgood designed the sets, costumes, and applied makeup. At the time, gay erotica consisted solely of fitness magazines or low-rent pornos. Bidgood recalls, “There was no art. They were badly lit and uninteresting. Playboy had girls in furs, feathers and lights. They had faces like beautiful angels. I didn’t understand why boy pictures weren’t like that.”
Movie trailer for Pink Narcissus, starring Bobby Kendall, directed by James Bidgood (1971). Via Mubi.
Music video for Naufrage en Hiver, starring Mikado, directed by Pierre et Gilles (1986).
Pierre et Gilles were shocked and delighted by the hypnotic soft-core theatricality. The film’s unabashed nudity and lush beauty clearly left a lasting impact on the duo (notice the erotic matador costumes above).
In the 80s Pierre et Gilles collaborated with synthpop duo Mikado, directing two music videos, Naufrage en Hiver (1986) and La fille du Soleil (1988). Pierre et Gilles’ videos clearly echo the intricate floral designs and hypnotizing camera work of James Bidgood. Even now, Pierre still cites Pink Narcissus as one of his favorite works.
Pink Narcissus was edited and originally released by a production company that ruined Bidgood’s vision; the work’s creator — under his direction — was credited as “Anonymous.” Pink Narcissus was remastered and re-released with Bidgood’s name in 2003. Today Bidgood is rightly regarded as the “father of the pulp and glamour aesthetic.”
Souvenirs in Pierre et Gilles’ home studio in Le Pré-Saint-Gervais, Paris, France (2015). Photo by an unidentified photographer for Standard Magazine.
L'Odyssee Imaginaire, book cover, by Pierre et Gilles (1988). Photo by an unidentified photographer.
Religious Iconography
Pierre et Gilles fully established their iconic style after multiple trips to India. At street shops, the two witnessed the combination of Hindu figures, Bollywood magazines, and Christian icons. The duo had an epiphany about religious appropriation.
On the topic of homoeroticism, Gilles adds, “In Christianity, the body is very important. […] God became man, so the body, [is a religious symbol of] temptation and sensuality.” Though not everyone approves of the couple’s interpretation of sexuality, nudity, and divinity.
Vive la France (Serge, Moussa, Robert), ink-jet photograph printed on canvas and painted, by Pierre et Gilles (2006). © Pierre et Gilles
Controversy
Most recently, in 2012, Pierre et Gilles’ Vive la France (Serge, Moussa, Robert) was poorly received and publicly censored after it was heavily featured in the promotion of an exhibit of male nudes in the Leopold Museum in Vienna, Austria.
Vive la France (Serge, Moussa, Robert) depicts three athletes of varying skin-tones standing in nude solidarity — except for silver shoes and socks corresponding to the French flag — in a stadium filled with celebratory confetti and spectators. An ethnically diverse national football (soccer) team won France its very first FIFA World Cup in 1998 and the team became an instant symbol of national multiculturalism. At games, proud fans chant, “Black, Blanc, Beur,” (Black, White, and Arab) a play on the French tricolor flag, “blue, blanc, rouge.”
Vive la France had been dedicated to openness and tolerance but the posters of Pierre et Gilles’ nude models were defaced all over Vienna. “Many people told us that they wanted to or had to [vandalize the image in order to] protect their children,” said Klaus Pokorny, spokesman for the Leopold Museum. Amid safety concerns, the Leopold chose to cover the players’ genitals.
The prude decision was especially ironic considering the featured exhibition was titled Naked Men. “In Vienna they are fairly open about nudity and the body. If it had been a beautiful naked blond young man next to a blue sky it perhaps might not have caused problems,” explained Gilles. Indeed, the sculptural installation just outside the museum, Ilse Haider’s Mr. Big seems to have been untouched. Unfazed, Pierre et Gilles have continued to feature a diverse cast of models and celebrities in their artwork.
A policeman walks by a defaced poster for the Naked Men exhibition at the Leopold Museum featuring Vive la France by Pierre et Gilles, Vienna, Austria (2012). Taken by Herwig Prammer for Reuters. Via Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Censored poster for the Naked Men exhibition at the Leopold Museum (2012). Via HuffPost.
Autoportrait (Pierre et Gilles), ink-jet photograph printed on canvas and painted, by Pierre et Gilles (2016). © Pierre et Gilles
In 2016, Pierre et Gilles celebrated 40 years of love and collaboration. The two have defined the camp gay aesthetic for the art world and have left an indelible mark on contemporary culture as a whole.
The world’s most expensive living artist, Jeff Koons, lauded the couple, “It’s hard to think of contemporary culture without the influence of Pierre et Gilles, from advertising to fashion photography, music video, and film. Their highly saturated images, making reference to art history and religious iconography, create a visual impact that transcends cultures around the world. This is truly global art.”
Undoubtedly, Pierre et Gilles will continue to arouse and inspire the hero in all of us, while promoting love, openness, and acceptance.
