CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
Scroll To Top
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Gay fetish artist Rex has died—see some of his iconic work
Pre-AIDS artist Rex recently passed away in Amsterdam.
Courtesy Bob Mizer Foundation
Before Reddit or Pornhub or VHS tapes came into existence, art was the way to fantasize over gay sex. Illustrations of hyper-masculine men getting into it, often wearing leather or dressed up as archetypes like cops or bikers, spread across queer culture in the mid-20th century — much of this work sprung from the mind and hand of artist Touko Valio Laaksonen, aka Tom of Finland.
But another artist, Rex, also made a name for himself, depicting men in various states of pleasure. Rex's work adorned not just postcards and framed drawings, but pulp novel covers and the walls of legendary gay bars, like New York's Mineshaft.
Sadly, Rex passed away in late March in Amsterdam, according to the Bob Mizer Foundation, a nonprofit that preserves and promotes mid-century erotic photography and art.
"After working briefly in commercial art world during the 1960s, he changed his name to Rex and began drawing raw, unapologetically graphic depictions of the S&M subculture that was just beginning to emerge on both U.S. coasts in the 1970s," according to the Foundation. "He worked in pen and ink, using a series of tiny dots called pointillism to create his black-and-white images of explicit gay sex among roughened, muscular men in places like darkened dive bars, dingy alleyways, and seedy motels."
Rex lived such a private life that his real name and age are unknown — he was believed to be 76 or 77 at the time of his death — and he refused to be photographed. Bob Mizer Foundation historian Trent Dunphy knew the reclusive Rex, who operated a San Francisco studio decorated completely in black.
“He was a great talker,” Dunphy said of Rex. “One of my customers and I were talking and he liked Rex's illustrations. [The customer] was 100 percent straight and said to me, ‘You know, I have his drawings and he’s really disturbing. Why does he do that?’ I loved that, and I told it to Rex, who responded, ‘That’s the point!’”
Rex stopped producing drawings at the beginning of the AIDS crisis in the early 1980s. He eventually became disillusioned with America's puritanical leanings and left for a new life overseas.
“He thought American culture was crumbling and dysfunctional,” Dunphy said, “so he moved to Europe.”
See more drawings of Rex below, courtesy of the Bob Mizer Foundation.
Courtesy Bob Mizer Foundation
Courtesy Bob Mizer Foundation
Courtesy Bob Mizer Foundation
Latest Stories
29 LGBTQ+ celebs you can follow on OnlyFans
April 18 2024 1:00 PM
16 times male celebrities had to say they weren't gay
April 17 2024 11:57 AM
Family forever! 10 queer celebs who have LGBTQ+ siblings
April 11 2024 11:35 AM
14 queens who quit or retired from drag after 'RuPaul's Drag Race'
April 04 2024 12:56 PM
21 LGBTQ+ reality dating shows & where to watch them
April 03 2024 4:01 PM
30 pics of 'Foundation' star Lee Pace that exude Big Daddy Energy
March 25 2024 10:35 AM
21 LGBTQ+ TV shows we loved that only lasted one season
March 22 2024 11:53 AM
21 of our favorite—but problematic AF—fictional queer women
March 08 2024 6:10 PM
15 'Drag Race' queens who were shockingly eliminated after 1 lip sync
March 07 2024 9:47 AM
20 hotties who perfected the art of the mirror selfie
March 05 2024 3:20 PM
26 actors who showed bare ass in movies & TV shows
February 28 2024 1:50 PM
21 Pokémon who are totally, absolutely, definitely queer
February 27 2024 11:28 AM
15 Unforgettable Gay Kissing Scenes From TV & Movies
February 14 2024 10:20 AM
10 Unforgettable Lesbian & Sapphic Kisses From TV & Movies
February 14 2024 10:10 AM
Here's how long each Pit Crew hunk has been on 'RuPaul's Drag Race'
February 09 2024 2:16 PM
Yes, Ricky Martin is showing you his feet pics for free
February 08 2024 2:56 PM
25 LGBTQ+ movies we can't wait to watch in 2024
January 26 2024 4:16 PM
'Looking' cast: where are they now?
January 22 2024 11:56 AM