The HaPenis Project

Sierra Domino Studios was one of several small but very active mostly one-man operations producing and selling erotic images of men for men that existed for decades but flourished in the post-Stonewall era of the 1970s. Often persecuted and prosecuted before that era, these photographers fought often lonely and dangerous battles to express and share their love of men and men’s bodies. The men they photographed generally had little or none of the commercialized, air-bushed faux-sexuality and faux-masculinity of say, Rubiandairio’s 2010 “Mucho Macho,” which expresses the current commercialized “gay” esthetic perfectly; even if unintentionally. What you get in “Rhapsody in Black” instead are images of guys; muscular or slim, butch or not, hung or more mostly endowed, but attractive, virile and real. Most of the photos are set in southern California, though my favorites are the ones taken on the streets and roof-tops of New York City. These capture not only the grace and beauty of the models, but some of the edge of pre-gentrified New York. This and similar collections from this era are a much needed reminder that male homoeroticism was not always and need not necessary be the sanitized Abercrombie and Fitch fantasies or fetish-driven niche markets it has largely become. “Rhapsody” makes the old new and liberating. – J. Lewis