Something From Australia: How Do You Want Me
For over a year now, Luke Austin has been operating his infamous art-centric homo-erotic photography blog theshadybeau.com and is now ready to debut his premier exhibition
How Do You Want Me?this weekend.
The exhibition is based around Luke’s original and very bold concept; to photograph subjects as they step out of the shower, free from artifice.
“As I had spent so many years shooting bar/club openings and social pics I was used to capturing the fake ‘over the top’ side of people, so I was interested in stripping peoples’ image control away and capturing the real them,” the photographer explains.
“What better way to do this than to capture people naked in their bedrooms? I feel that no one actually likes how they really look so I was intrigued to see how people would react to being photographed like this.
“Initially I was hoping for about 40 people to photograph, but through Facebook and word of mouth I’ve managed to capture 68 people,” Austin adds.
“It was hard to get people to go completely naked, and for most I had to settle for a hand or towel cover. Either way it was really unnerving for all involved. They were nervous and felt quite uncomfortable being left alone in a strangers bedroom while they were showering. Very strange. Hopefully I captured that nervous energy in the photos.
“I’m attracted to the male form, so photographing them comes quite easily, and I obviously enjoy it. What’s not fun about having muscled-up dudes posing half-naked in your lounge room?”
How Do You Want Me? will exhibit for one afternoon only this Saturday 15th October, from 4-8pm at Fraser Studios, 10 Kensington Street, Chippendale (opposite UTS), Sydney, with special guest DJs Bad Wives. All portraits will be available for sale. There’ll also be an after-party at Nevermind that night with some of the portraits appearing on the nightclub’s big screen.
Comments