CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 6/25/2022

Prescient, playful hardcore self-portraiture in 'Peter Berlin: Icon, Artist, Photosexual'

Featured image is reproduced from Peter Berlin: Icon, Artist, Photosexual, the first major monograph on the artist and gay icon. In his Introduction, Berlin, aka Armin Baron von Hoyningen-Huene, writes, "From the early days of puberty I was intrigued by the sexiness of boys and since I was one I was excited by my own image. At the beginning, I felt surprised and intimidated by this self-love so I kept it a secret but my passion for revealing clothes, especially tight-fitting pants, seemed to heighten my excitement. Being desired for sex and the lustful look of men in public while cruising became an obsession.…
I did what girls and boys all over the planet do today by the millions, now with their smartphones, turning the lens on themselves to produce self-portraits, which are now called ‘selfies.’ This is the most natural thing for them to do. Though it still surprises me, what began for me in the late 1960s—the nudity, the eros, the raw sexuality—is still considered taboo today.
Back then, my young mind told me to freeze my image on film, first for my own pleasure and later (at the urging of friends) to share with the world. It was that drive to show myself off that produced two films, Nights in Black Leather and That Boy, whose main character required a name. As a result, almost half a century ago, PETER BERLIN was born and lives on through these images."