Robert Manners

Naïve Decadence

Pardon the mysterious title, but I coined the phrase earlier today and am very much in love with it.



Today is the day for computer graphics! I've been scanning, editing, and uploading all sorts of pictures today. And while I was at it, I decided to upload some of these new pictures into my Webshots community page, and then found some more pictures to upload into Webshots as well as my own FTP space. As a result, I have spent most of a very enjoyable day on line. And all because I couldn't find a picture online that I could post for Valentine's Day.



Hey, aren't you the queen who just said a couple of days ago that she'd rather eat broken cheap crystal than celebrate Valentine's Day?



Yes, yes, I know. But I am really only disdaining the overwhelming crass heterosexual commercialism of the holiday, not the imagery or the ideas. So maybe I'm not Falling in Love with Love, per se...but one of the things I love most in this world is a pretty man; and even more, I love a pretty picture of a pretty man. So here's a sample, a sort of pre-Valentine for you:

The above is by photographer/filmmaker/designer James Bidgood. I absolutely adore Bidgood's work, it inspired the phrase "Naïve Decadence," which I think describes his style really well. I mean, there's a rank sexuality and overblown opulence in the settings and costumes, but the colors and the apparent intentions are really sensual and quite innocent. I have a lovely coffee table book of his work. The model is Bobby Kendall, with whom Bidgood worked extensively over a period of six years, preserving the extraordinary beauty of the boy at its peak. I scanned the picture myself from the postcard version of the book. Sort of Valentine-y, I thought. Put me in the holiday mood.



I'm still not going to buy Valentine's cards...at least not until Friday, when they will all be half-off! I plan a hell of a spree down the chocolate aisles, plucking with greedy fingers at the leftover hearts and flowers! Then when I'm good and fat, I'll start hunting for a husband. Any cute young boys out there who want to hook up with a fat old drag queen with an attitude and no money?