I’d been told it’s considered radical now, but when I did it, I just thought, “Why did that have to be such a bad word?”
I had been called that since I was a kid, being shouted from passing cars and whatever. I thought, I’m for that, because “queer” meant odd. When I was your age, maybe two years older, I made this painting in 1985 that said “queer.” Big Victorian letters and flowers all around it. But it does have kind of a dirty, hidden feeling. MCGOUGH: It still has a lot of shame base to it, even though most men watch porn-straight and gay and bi. I think, in that regard, pushing the idea and image of gay love and intimacy as more of a public sphere and not so much as the disposable thing that porn tends to construe it as. I’ve been trying to push it onto others, working with fashion designers who also appreciate sexuality and don’t try to hide from it. Tell me more about that.įORD: I believe that queer love shouldn’t only exist in the narrow scope of porn. MCGOUGH: What’s the importance of making work that highlights queer love? How do you see yourself as a spokesman? I feel like you have a different attitude towards it. I think, as far as the pictures that Benjamin and I did with David, it’s about showcasing that this love is real love and that’s beautiful.
Eroticism without love, I think, has its place, and I’ve certainly worked with people that make that kind of art and I think it’s valuable, but I also like to work with artists who celebrate intimacy, love, and eroticism in a different way. MCGOUGH: These pictures with your partner, is this different than with somebody you’re performing for?įORD: I think there’s room for a lot of different kinds of queer art. Then it becomes a different sort of dynamic with people. They’re like, “You’re really familiar.” They realize once you’ve told them that you do porn that they’ve, you know…įORD: … indulged in it. A lot of people, even before I tell them, they say, “Have I met you somewhere?” You notice a change before and after you tell them that you’ve done porn, because you’re talking to them. I think that does tend to harm people’s view, whether subconsciously or consciously, of the actual performers who are human and are creating the thing that’s actually quite vital for a lot of people, for their enjoyment. It’s meant to be enjoyed on a very…įORD: Exactly. I think pornography sometimes, to a lot of people, feels like a disposable one-off art form. Do people give you a different attitude, do they look at you, like you’re less than?įORD: Sure. With pornography or adult film, everybody looks at them, but then they kind of feel it’s a secret thing. I photographed him for Interview and then got into the fashion world. MCGOUGH: That’s what happened when I photographed Jeff Stryker, the biggest porn star of the 80s.
My boyfriend coincidentally is a photographer. SEAN FORD: I’ve done some fashion-facing stuff, some photo shoots for magazines. PETER MCGOUGH: Do you do fashion modeling? I mean, you do have the face for it. During the first week of the new decade, Ford sat down with the New York art-world luminary and author of the recently released I’ve Seen the Future and I’m Not Going Peter McGough to discuss what’s to come for the queer community and the world at large: the normalization of violence, the death of eroticism, and reclaiming the word “ faggot.” - ERNEST MACIAS The young star hopes that people use his explicit work and art-like these photographs of Ford and his boyfriend, the photographer Ben Cha banon, by David Macke and styled by Dylan Wayne-as a way to explore different forms of desire and see the beauty of queer intimacy. Ford currently works with CockyBoys, a New York-based gay porn studio known for producing gay films infused with experimental arthouse erotica.įord-also an up-and-coming fashion darling who has worked with Palomo Spain and starred in a short film for Ludovic de Saint Sernin‘s sex toy line-is eager to change people’s perception of pornography. Through his work, he hopes to celebrate and normalize “the image of gay love and intimacy as more of a public sphere.” He’s been part of the adult film industry for roughly three years and has since appeared in over 40 scenes. For Sean Ford, a 23 year-old gay porn star and New York transplant from Little Rock, Arkansas, intimacy is about eroticism, love, and openness. Sherman Jewels.įor many, the word intimacy may have close ties to the erotic, but in mainstream representations of queer sex, intimacy-and the deep familiarity it engenders-is largely absent.