Art means many different things to different people. For me, I love art that makes me think, art that is dangerous, art that is ugly and beautiful at the same time – like the art of Pierre Molinier. He was so before his time that it is hard to put into words. He was born in the early 1900’s, when the world was a very cruel place for anyone who was different; at age 18, he realized he was a homosexual and transvestite, and his identity slowly became the focus of his work. He began to show his erotic self-portraiture in the mid-1960s, challenging religious ritual and control of sexuality with his risque imagery. I trip out on his photos and paintings because they’re punk before the term even existed. It was artistic beings like Pierre who lay the foundation for the subversive artists that came after him. Molinier’s work was highly sexual in a period when many people were afraid of sex. He dealt with bondage in a way that was groundbreaking, but despite his ability to translate his beliefs and lifestyle into art, he held deep wounds inside, and took his own life in 1976. The society who talked shit about him and his work were the ones who were really in bondage, because their chains were in their minds – they were beaten into submission by society at large. Check out this huge photo essay of Pierre Molinier’s work below…So many people benefited from his openness, passion and sacrifice!
