Hot Draw! Mark I. Chester hosts Gay Men’s Kinky Sketch Group in San Francisco

Hosted by Mark I. Chester, an institution in the San Francisco gay art scene for a long time now. Best known as a photographer, Chester is also an underground artist who opens his SOMA studio to regular life-drawing sessions, including the monthly Hot Draw! – Devoted to fans of kinky gay male erotica. Themes of power, control, submission, fetish, gear, S/m and kink galore dominate at these events. Pictured here is Dan Becker’s quick sketch of artist Richard Bolingbroke’s sub bear paul on all fours. That would be Bolingbroke’s boot: good bear! More on Hot Draw! here. Interested in getting your hot self in front of Chester’s hot camera lens? That can happen, too. Information here.

The Robot and the Lifeguard

Watercolor Robot circa 2010 by Richard Bolingbroke. Paired with a nice Saturday Evening Post cover of nearly a century earlier. The humpy lifeguard is supposed to be guarding those drowning flappers, but he’s got eyes for something – or someone – very different!

Richard Bolingbroke Paints LIVE in a Display Window in downtown San Francisco!

This photo is of Carole Moore, working in the window last week.

He’s been at it for three days, and will continue until 10pm tonight. If you are in downtown San Francisco, drop by 581 Market Street at Second to watch him work in the big window of what was once Stacey’s Books. More on Richard Bolingbroke here and here.

The Amazing Artman! Richard Bolingbroke launches new Website…

Richard Bolingbroke. Lost. 2009. From the series "Art is a Four Letter Word"

Friend of this site Richard Bolingbroke has launched a new website. Bolingbroke says of his series Art is a Four Letter Word: “Words and images are the two main ways we communicate and understand the world around us. In these paintings I explore the interplay of words and images in an effort to understand both the innate tension that exists between these two methods of defining and recording ideas, and the bond that they can create with intellect and sensation.” His new site is live, here. Enjoy!

Richard Bolingbroke’s Family Portraits at QIY – Big Gay Art Show in SF

Opening Saturday from 1-4 pm at SOMArts: Queer It Yourself: Tools for Survival. How do we make and do things that will have a lasting import? Straight culture has its traditions, institutions and social formulations and so have we. Sometimes they are parallel, other times a bit askew. When queers ask one another: “Is he family?” the word means something very different than when it is deployed as a semiotic weapon, as is the case with the coded phrase “family values.” How can we reconfigure notions (ie: the family) that have historically been used to separate, condemn and alienate us into useful tools for our collective long-term survival?

Artist and friend of this site Richard Bolingbroke explains how this works for him:

“These two pieces are part of my series Family Portrait in which I portray the men and women I am close to. As a gay man I needed to create my own ‘Family’ and I decided to document it myself rather than let straight society do it for me.. These men are my lovers and close friends. This is my community, my family. There are over 40 drawings in this series and these two of Frank and Luca, and Gary and Joe, are of couples who have both been together over 30 years.”

You can see Bolingbroke’s portraits, and lots of other fresh art Saturday afternoon at SOMArts, 934 Brannan Street in San Francisco. Opening at the same time in the side gallery: A History of Queer Street Art. More on that later.

Richard Bolingbroke’s Personal Encounter with a Video Storm

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San Francisco artist and friend of this site Richard Bolingbroke recently visited a video installation at the exhibit Breathed…Unsaid…Exploring Personal Encounters with Cultural Diaspora at San Francisco’s Somarts Gallery. He took photographs of his shadow playing across the screen to produce these King Lear-like images: a solitary figure in silhouette, seemingly struggling with the burden of power – or maybe just raging against the oncoming storm. For more on Bolingbroke and his more typical methods of art-making, click here and here.

Richard Bolingbroke in Hearts and Healing: group show celebrating love and healing.

Richard Bolingbroke in his studio

“Please join Richard Bolingbroke, Page Hodel and Gregg Cassin for the opening reception of Hearts and Healing, a group show celebrating love and healing, produced by the Queer Cultural Center and the SF LGBT Center.

Richard Bolingbroke and Gregg Cassin have been active in the San Francisco art scene for over 20 years. Richard founded the Gay and Lesbian Artist Alliance in 1989. Page is a renowned DJ who created The Box and Club Q

Page will be showing photographs of her heart installations she creates every Monday, as a tribute to her beloved partner Madalene Rodriguez whom she lost to ovarian cancer These hearts are a celebration of the power and glory of love.

Gregg will be showing mixed media works that use found images, sacred texts and vintage artifacts to create contemporary icons, with the themes of suffering, transformation and the sacredness of each individual.

Richard will be showing paintings from his Rituals and Meditations series. These watercolors celebrate the transformative powers of life, love and death using a personal iconography of myth, magic and beauty

Enjoy special Reception music by Page Hodel, yummy treats, tasty libations and the delightful company of all three artists. The show will be up until March 15, should you be unable to make the opening reception extravaganza.”

San Francisco LGBT Community Center Gallery

1800 Market Street, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA

Opening: Thursday, February 17 · 6:00pm – 8:00pm

For more on Richard Bolingbroke, click here.

Not So Still Life. Richard Bolingbroke at Hayward’s Sun Gallery.

San Francisco watercolorist and printmaker Richard Bolingbroke has a solo exhibit called Not So Still Life at the Hayward Center for the Arts’ Sun Gallery. It opened Friday with a reception and artist’s talk.

Sun Gallery is Hayward’s longest standing non-profits arts organization, with a mission to “enrich the cultural life of our community and promote art as the universal language between cultures, income levels and ages.”

Earlier this year, Bolingbroke produced a short-run volume of his long-term project Rituals and Meditations. More on that and information on how to order it or view it online is available here.

Rituals and Meditations: Personal Archetypes of Myth, Magic and Beauty from Richard Bolingbroke

San Francisco artist Richard Bolingbroke has just finished his self-published book of watercolors called Rituals and Meditations: Personal Archetypes of Myth, Magic and Beauty. The beautifully produced edition features the artist’s introduction and commentary on all the works, and essays by David Duckworth, John Mendelsohn and Jordy Jones. The book is available to view on-line and for purchase in hard or soft cover versions here.