On a person note, I met REX back in the early 90s through my collectors Bob Mainardi, (RIP) and Trent Dunphy who together owned the legendary MAGAZINE on Polk Street. Now home to the BOB MIZER FOUNDATION/MUSEUM.
Rex had fallen on hard times and was near homeless so Bob & Trent offered a place to live on the premises, literally a closet. Rex made it look like a palace and was able to continue his art. Although notoriously cantankerous to others, Rex was always kind and generous with me. I exhibited his artwork at my gallery Antebellum during the 2000s and was surprised as to how few knew who he was. Unfortunately, because of subject matter Rex never received the recognition of his friends and peers Tom of Finland and Robert Mapplethorpe. REX was a one of a kind person and incredible artist.
Years from now he will be renounced and recognized for the art he created with little fanfare outside the leather community. RIP dear legend.
Wikipedia~
REX, an American artist and illustrator closely associated with gay fetish art of 1970s and 1980s New York and San Francisco. He avoids photographs and does not discuss his personal life. His drawings influenced gay culture through graphics made for nightclubs including the Mineshaft and his influence on artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe. Much censored, he has remained a shadowy figure saying that his drawings "defined who I became" and that there are "no other 'truths' out there".
Abandoned at birth, his real name and exact birthday are unknown, but references indicate a date in the 1940s. He was adopted at a young age. Being a teenager in the 1960s, he lived among beatniks and on the streets of Greenwich Village. He legally changed his name sometime in the 70s or early 80s.
The elusiveness his art was deliberate because explicit sexual art, particularly homosexual in subject, was illegal, framed in vague language and enforced via contradictory judgments before the Stonewall riots. He said "I signed myself REX because it was non-specific and untraceable in those days by the cops". Although explicit nudes aimed at gay men would become more permissible, the conservative and homophobic social culture of the era still meant that involvement with gay pornography could have serious consequences.
The following info is courtesy Leather Hall of Fame~
REX began illustrating the world of exclusively gay leather fetishism in the 1970s documenting and creating the images and ideas which were barely understood in their day, and are still at the borders of comprehension.
This collection spans over four decades of his work.
REX published three bound volumes of drawings from the mid 1970s through the 1980s available through gay bookstores and the growing gay magazine circulation of the time: Drummer, The Alternative, Dungeon Master, Mandate Reader, QQ and others. This book is a summary of two decades of his self-published works.
Through the explosion in gay publishing in the decades of the 70's, 80's, and 90's, print media frequently sought out REX to give image to the fantasies sold in the world of gay commerce. From bars and sex clubs to sex phone services, from sex toys to poppers REX was sought out, his style frequently copied but never duplicated. |
Over a four decade period, REX produced hundreds of drawings organized into 10-20 page portfolios, bought and delivered by post worldwide. This book looks at these works holistically, showing the progression of his style, his execution, and the cohesion of his vision for the ppossibilitiesof gay male pleasures. |
Rough Trade was a gay pulp fiction imprint from 1979 to 1987, publishing over 200 novels. Each book had a cover illustration and many interior illustrations created by gay artists of the time helping launch the careers of many young men, some of whom remain anonymous to this day. These images, from the first 11 books of the series, are by REX.
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