Rob Clarke’s Beasts and Beauties

Many of New York artist Rob Clarke's creatures originate from the images of hunky, pumped-up men. The final products range from mischievous to disturbing. Fans of fetish, BDSM and edgy, hardcore sex will easily recognize symbols and clues that alert the informed viewer to the power struggles and codes of the intense, subcultural world of gay male sex that flourished in the USA in the 1970s, was devastated in the 1980s (and beyond) and is still resiliently developing. Mr. Clarke's biggest achievement is his "cartoonizing" of the gay male psyche, and the catapulting of it into ecstatic and frightening domains.

· Rob Clarke (robclarke.net)