'These guys were not models, but members of left-wing radical group called Die Autonomen.'
I love featuring the imagery of Ian from macpics. I've featured many of the Australian artist's recent shoots, both in-studio as well as beach shoots along the coast near where Ian lives and works in Melbourne, Victoria. You can check out many of those models and pieces in my Quaternate post HERE.
At HF however, in addition to enjoying featuring visually impactful imagery, I also love a great story. I especially love when the story and visuals are equally creatively compatible. Ian has sent along several of his early shoots from the nineties and early 2000's. Ian was living in Germany at the time, and shot a lot of models, and men he met through his various creative endeavors. This group of men, are indeed, some of the most interesting.
Ian doesn't remember exactly how he met them, so I'm guessing he wasn't actually a member of the group... Ian believes me met one through a woman one of men was in a relationship with. She was quite a bit older than he was and seemed to enjoy being surrounded by young good-looking men. Although there is certainly a homoerotic components to the shoot and imagery, all of the men identified themselves as being straight. They were also all members of a group Die Autonomen. Die Autonomen translated means the autonomous ones.
'Die Autonomen was a left-wing radical group, and I heard it said that it was because of their presence in Germany, that the ring-wing radicals were kept away from the town I lived in. I suspect that there were other reasons, but one way or another, it was a very peaceful place to live in. '
Although the group was based more in political activism, than cultural or sexual activism, these shot could be considered somewhat radical, especially for the 1990's. They were not only posing naked together, but interacting intimately and physical along with elements of sexual defiance and fetishism weaved within.
'They were all in quite a good, open-minded mood when they arrived for the shoot. Still, I happily let them drink a beer, or two, so help get them get loosened up. As you can see, it seems to have worked'
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