Pin up inspiration by Art Frahm
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Pin up inspiration by Art Frahm
Paul Richmond
I think a pin-up boy is someone who isn’t afraid to have fun with his sexuality, and also is a bit of a show-off.
A lot of my concepts come from a hodge-podge of inspirations. It usually begins with something I saw in a classic pin-up painting and then I begin imagining how to reinterpret it from a male perspective.
I consider the Cheesecake Boys to be activism because they question, in a lighthearted way, the gender roles that our society has accepted as the norm for generations. They make a lot of people uncomfortable because they aren’t used to seeing men portrayed this way. It take the concept of the “male gaze” and flips it around on itself.
I started this series because I was always fascinated with pinup art from the 40’s and 50’s. It was a more innocent time (at least on the surface), and I love the elaborate scenarios that artists concocted in order to justify disrobing their subjects. It struck me that male models were never portrayed in the same way. While it was considered sexy for a woman’s skirt to be ripped off before a crowd of oglers, male pinups of that era (beefcakes) were generally only exposed by choice. Times certainly have changed! Guys may have had a free pass on wardrobe malfunctions in the good old days, but now the Cheesecake Boys are here to even the score!
There is a wealth of pop culture inspiration to draw from too - everything from Marilyn to the ladies of 80’s slasher flicks who could never keep their clothes on.
My initial inspirations for this series were some of the classic pin-up artists like Gil Elvgren and Art Frahm. I wasn’t aware of anyone else doing male pin-up work that wasn’t hypermasculine back when I began my series twelve years ago. But since then I’ve discovered a lot of awesome queer artists who inspire me with their own take on male pin-up art, including Michael Breyette, Joe Phillips, Glen Hansen, Jeffrey Aviles, Christian Cimoroni, and many more!