Vanilla Boy

I went down a deep rabbit hole doing research for this painting. There’s a book about nude photography from 1890 until 2010, and how it became bolder and bolder over the years, getting closer and closer to pornography.

It struck me how “vanilla” the first photos from 1890 are, taken by a photographer in Sicily and styled after Greek mythology (to make it more artsy and acceptable, to be sure).

My first attempt was to paint a nude image in this style, but that failed miserably. It took me a whole week to paint and I was deeply unhappy with the result.

I started over and thought very hard about the concept. In the end, simplicity won again. When I came out of my morning shower, getting dressed, I reached for my white Calvin Klein briefs. Then it struck me, what’s more vanilla, more ordinary than that! It doesn’t matter if you gay or straight, everyone must have a pair of white briefs in their drawer, and it’s probably a Calvin Klein. They’re classic and comfortable.

Of course, I still needed a little sexual hint, so there’s some vanilla ice cream melting. What does that mean? That’s up to your imagination 😉

Something a bit old, but the ideas are still new