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THBAuctioneer's Statement
About Seller
1155 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02909
United States
Vallot Auctioneers was founded in 2003 as a fine art specialty auction house in Tribeca, and recognized as one of the first fine art specialty auction galleries in Manhattan. Now based in Providence, RI, the auction house continues the excellence in focusing on bringing fresh quality lots to the mar...Read more
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About Auction
LiveDec 11, 2025
Our final AFTER DARK catalog of the year sees giants of male erotic art take center stage, with numerous works from institutions and private collections from Rex, The Hun, Matt (Charles Kerbs), Stephen Hale, Michael Kirwan, Etienne and many others. At AFTER DARK we offer each catalogue of artworks with an argument and a confidence that these are more deserving than the infinite supply of common aesthetic motifs that artists use to replicate, repeat and adorn. AFTER DARK illuminates the quietest corners and loudest soirees of gay history, art, and culture in the 20th century and beyond. Vallots Auctioneers info@vallots.com
View Full Catalog (123)
- Lot Description
AFTER DARK/WINTER
We worked long and hard to assemble this catalog, and we deeply appreciate those who have entrusted these works to us. The artworks in this catalog are scarce and in limited supply. We are uncertain, for example, about how many original Dom Orejudos (Etienne) exist, and while we should know, all we can say is that there are very few.The works in this catalog are rare both because of historically discreet circulation but the continued constraint of the destructive tendencies of the philistines. And we can document many examples of the works of these artists having been destroyed.
Indeed, the forces of history have resulted in the extraordinarily underrepresented male form in art. The Hun (Bill Schmeling), for example, is singular in art history because of the cultural and self-imposed reluctance to explore, and in particular with regard to The Hun, the outer bounds of masculinity.
The muscular entanglements of MATT (Charles Kerbs) and the male body with all its potential entanglements has, in art history, been largely off-limits. Consider further, then, the art historical outrageousness of the fact that depictions of the bodies of half our species and all their polychromatic shapes and potentialities have been circumscribed to the point of near erasure.
We are not unaware of the naive reaction some of these works may elicit; however, we offer these artworks confident that they are destined to become the canonical art of tomorrow. And not because the representations of the male form in this catalog are provocative; most of the artworks in this catalog were not created with that intention.
The overriding motive of the artists represented in this auction catalog was to explore the male form and what the vast majority of other artists have been unable or unwilling to explore. The spark of provocation is not the works themselves but the preloaded, self-perpetuating, insidious forces of the status-quo about what serious art should and shouldn't be. It is these forces and not the objects sparking the shock.
Nevertheless, when artists have gone to the male form, they have added to the chronology of historic masterpieces. Consider Michelangelo, his revered nude David and his twenty Ignudi, male nudes, integral to his composition for the Sistine Chapel, or just consider the unapologetic explorations of Egon Schiele.
The open secret in art is that what was once hidden or laughed off is, more often than not, what collectors come to covet (Impressionism, Dadaism, Abstract Expressionism). Michael Kirwan's singular phosphorescent melting visions receive the same treatment now that Duchamp's painting Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 did then, and we believe that this is telling.
We offer our catalogue of artworks with an argument and a confidence that these are more deserving than the infinite supply of common aesthetic motifs that artists use to replicate, repeat and adorn. REX's compositions with hard scenes and looks, and the photo-realist graphite drawings that Stephen Hale created in his tiny 1980s East Village apartment are bold and singular statements about the male form and just as destined for greatness as the few bold artists who have come before them.
What great collectors know is that great art collections are not produced through pursuing what everyone else does, but from a confidence that sees past the moment. The artworks in this catalog, including the anonymous works that depict rare subject matter, offer a unique opportunity found only a few times each century. It is what Gertrude Stein understood; artworks whispered about or dismissed out of fear are worth paying attention to, and it is those works which the best scholars will spend careers unpacking.
There will be a day when The Hun is shown on the same pristine white walls as Fernando Botero's pumped-up figures, when Joe Radoccia gilded Patriots are next to Emanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing, and when Etienne's Cowboys sells more museum tickets than Peter Paul Ruben's Sabine Women.
Now we invite you to acquire these works of art and to look after them until they undoubtedly become part of the great art collections and conversations of the future.
Michael Dym, the Auctioneer - Shipping Info
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We do not offer in-house packing and shipping services. Shipping can be expensive, please consider obtaining an estimate prior to bidding. Below we have listed our preferred shipper as a courtesy, and we will be glad to assist you with your third-party shipping needs, however, we assume no liability for any shipper you use or any loss or damage occasioned in transport or otherwise as a result of shipping.
THE UPS STORE - CRANSTON
148 Atwood Ave, Cranston, RI 02920
(401) 654-6381
THE UPS STORE - PARSONAGE STREET
22 Parsonage Street, Providence, RI 02903
(401) 369-7029
IN PERSON PICK-UPS
In person pick-ups are to be scheduled by appointment during business hours (weekdays 9-4 pm) at 1155 Westminster St. Providence, RI 02909. Please call (401) 273-1618 or email: info@vallots.com.
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