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Your Finest Inspiration

Madonna has relentlessly framed herself as an artist against an onslaught of naysayers from the beginning, so it's only fitting a portrait of her has been unveiled in a museum. Also not surprising is the fact that one of the best portraits ever made of her doesn't feature her face at all, but is instead a mosaic of superfans singing along to The Immaculate Collection. (Thanks to Wally.)

State Of The Ward

Remember Madonna's hottest ex (her hottest ever?) Tony Ward? He still looks fantastic. Now, he and Daniel Rivas are collaborating on a series of paintings, an endeavor that's landed them on the cover of and inside Tokion (Spring 2009).

The article begins, "Tony Ward has a hose filled with pink paint and knows what to do with it." Funny, I think that was similar to the opener on his fab In Touch For Men cover story from the '80s...

They explain their challenging art as: "Underneath all this [cuteness], this is who we are. And it's really not cute."

The paintings are findable at Tokion's site, but all of their cuteness I'm providing right here.

Some of the now 46-year-old Tony Ward's hottest and most memorable shots from over the years after the jump...

Sherman Hermit

Mark Seliger shoots the great Cindy Sherman for the May/Jun 2009 L'Uomo Vogue (well, at least she dressed like a man for it). I rarely see her pose for other photographers or doing publicity, so found this to be noteworthy. Still one of my favorite artists. Wish I could own some of her work.

More after the jump...

Guy & Doll

With thanks to David: Remember that hideous (aesthetically; but also artistically "whatever") painting of Madonna and Guy Ritchie by Peter Howson that was unveiled several years ago? The one where Guy looked like The Thing and Madonna resembled Gerard Depardieu? Well, it's on the auction block and is expected to fetch about  $35,000. I can think of a lot of things I'd rather spend $35,000 on. Like art.

Also on the Guy tip, isn't it annoying that now that he's divorced from Madonna he decides to go and make a big-budget movie musical? Okay, so it's Guys and Dolls and Madonna is no Jean Simmons, but still, the noive!

Lost Angeles

I love to sk8 you.

Back from a four-day trip to L.A., where so much was happening I didn’t even feel the 4.8 earthquake despite always being worried I’d get caught up in one of those and be like Debralee Scott jiggling on that airplane attempting to land in Earthquake.

The sexual vibe in L.A. is blatant but unerotic. No one cruises. (Me?)

On Friday, I landed pretty early and checked into the Hollywood Roosevelt, my usual HQ. I’m sure there are other hotels I would like and could afford, but its storied history (it’s the location of the first Academy Awards dinner in the 1920s and boasts rumors of Marilyn Monroe’s ghost) and my astonishing brand loyalty bring me back every time.

Something gave.

With almost no time to rest, I was picked up by my friend Corey in his candy-apple red convertible.  Corey claims he isn’t rich, but I don’t believe him—he’s “Republican. With some Democratic tendencies. But mostly Republican.” I’ve only met him once, but he’s one of those friends with whom you fantasize you’re in a deep friendship with thanks to a great first impression, regular e-mails and Facebook fixes. In truth, it’d been about three years since I’d seen him, all the more reason his offer to drive me from L.A. to Laguna Beach just for a small art exhibit was charitable in the extreme. In fact, his business is charity; the reasons I can’t believe he’s a Republican just keep mounting.

Perez as Bettie @ World of Wonder.

The drive was idyllic. I’d feared a too-windy journey, but it felt great and I acquired an instatan. On the drive out, we pretty much slandered half of Hollywood—he felt bad, I did not—and talked about ways my job could and will intersect with his.

A hustler or a damn generous exhibitionist on Hollywood.

Personal PhotoShopper

I've linked him before, I think, but the artist/PhotoShop wizard behind Male Ero Painter is good. Real good:

I Pine for Chris.

Remember, it's a singing competition.

I get lost...in his thighs.

The Look Of Love

Myself and Maripol, with Matt Dillon and Madonna peering over our shoulders.

Years ago, I was lucky enough to win several items belonging to Maripol in an eBay auction. These included lots of jewelry actually worn by Madonna, often in quite memorable images (her first album cover, the Richard Corman images I own and prints of which I'm selling and others). Most importantly, I won a sketchbook in which Maripol had original drawings conceiving the Like A Virgin album cover, and in which I also found badly, yet interestingly, degraded Polaroids from that legendary Steven Meisel shoot.

Maripol from head to toe!

Flash forward to recently, when I was back in touch with Maripol, who kindly invited me to her studio.

Straightening Up

Matt Dallas kisses a girl and likes it (or pretends to like it) in this new "video portrait" by Tyler Shields; I wince at things that try hard to be edgy, but I think Shields is an exciting talent who is onto something. (I'm not sure what he does with the copyright issue regarding the music, though.)

A Breath Of Fresh Javier

Spanish actor Javier Beltran is giving the "next big thing" treatment by Out (April 2009), including an all-out sexy Hollywood shoot by Xevi Muntane. He stars as Federico Garcia Lorca opposite Robert  Pattinson as Salvador Dali in the indie flick Little Ashes.

Little Ashes focuses on the rumored affair between Lorca and Dali, but this was no issue for Beltran: "We didn't have any problems with the sexuality. On the set it was less important than the emotions. The sex scenes are beautiful—tragic and painful."

(Tell that to Pattinson, who told GQ much more colorful stories about how painful they were to film.)

Oh, and let's not forget Matthew McNulty (a married dad of two, darn it), who plays Luis Bunuel in the film and worried about meeting Pattinson because "he's really good-looking." He's shot for Out by Kevin Amato:

Many more sexy shots of Beltran—after the jump...

I Don't Know Much About Art, But I Know What I Lick

Male Ero Painter offers incredibly lifelike yet highly fanciful paintings of famous men nude. I never would've guess Jon Hamm was uncut, but Mr. Lost is probably the hottest of the ones I sampled.