MANCRUSH

In my search to understand and explore my queer identity, I became drawn to the idea of portraying people I feel attracted to — sometimes because of their faces, sometimes because of the feelings they awaken in me. Creating these portraits became a way of saying, without hiding, that I am the kind of man who desires other men. It is both a form of expression and a form of liberation.

These portraits, mostly of celebrities, carry the weight of the shame I grew up with — the memory of watching TV, looking at magazines, feeling desire, and not being able to speak about it or show it. Back then, attraction had to stay silent, hidden behind fear and self-censorship.

Through these works, what may look like admiration for someone’s aesthetics is also something more personal. By choosing these faces and recreating them, I am allowing myself to share that desire openly, without shame, and without the need to disguise it.

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LOVE PORTRAITS

Making portraits is what led me to pursue and eventually claim this technique as my own. Back in 2003, while I was at university, I had only made a few pieces, mostly reimagining works by other artists, but I quickly realised how satisfying and therapeutic it felt to create artwork in this way.

I made my first portrait for a simple reason: I didn’t have enough money to buy a birthday present. It just happened. I had the vision, and after a couple of days of experimenting, collecting coloured paper, cutting, and assembling, there it was — Juanita.

I was surprised by the result, proud, and immediately hungry to do more. By the end of that year I had given several pieces to close friends. They were well received, and suddenly more people seemed to want one.

Over the following years I refined the process, learning about different papers, inks, and formats, and experimenting with colour, greyscale, stencils, sharply defined shapes, and more relaxed, abstract forms. Portraits slowly became a personal way of celebrating the people I love and admire, and through them I found a technique — and a language — that felt completely my own.

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