In 2022, while looking through my nude male photography archive, I said to myself, “I can’t believe I’ve never exhibited any of these.” But the truth is, nude male photography is still niche; only a few galleries will show it and when they do it’s usually on a back wall. As a matter of fact, one of the best photographers of male nudes, George Platt Lynes, is rarely exhibited and is mostly forgotten from the cannon of 20th century photographers, even those his work is archived and maintained by the world renowned Kinsley Institute.
Around the same time that I was looking at my portfolio of nude photography (which I began in 2009 when I bent my friend Ed over the coffee table in my Cincinnati apartment, had him pull his pants down and snapped a photograph—it was planned btw, as all of my nude photography has been), I began experimenting with new media, a form of art that, for me, involves a few digital platforms that I was already familiar with when editing my street photography (changing from color to black & white). I grabbed one of the nude photos (later titled A Cockwork Orange) and decided to experiment with this gorgeous photograph of a well endowed penis that I had taken in 2012. The results were pretty quick. I had created the first piece in what would become my series Orange. I chose to work with the color orange because it was, at the time, my least liked color. It has sense become one of my most liked.
Over the next few months I worked quickly but with delight, creating a series of 20+ pieces, with A Cockwork Orange as the centerpiece (which you can see at the bottom of this blog entry). When I reached out to the model of that piece from 2012, with whom I’ve remained good friends with over the years, and told him that his dick was the centerpiece for my new series, he was delighted.
What I didn’t expect next with these new pieces, of which many include tasteful penis’s, including a self portrait of my own male anatomy, what the response from galleries when I began soliciting them to exhibit this series.
Circus Gallery, in West Hollywood, immediately wanted to display A Cockwork Orange, and sent me a contract. But I was hesitant; I wanted to display the entire series in a solo exhibit. So, the search was on to find a gallery. (I hope to work with ‘Circus’ on another series in the next year or so)
Landing a solo exhibit at a gallery is no easy task, nor is becoming part of a group exhibit for that matter. During the pandemic galleries shut down all over the world and never reopened. With limited space and millions of artists around the world wanting to exhibit their work, it’s a really stressful and long process. Most galleries won’t respond to your inquiries—and that’s if they even accept unsolicited submission (which many do not). Some galleries maintain appropriate professionalism and respond, even if with a rejection. The art world is full of bullshit and, occasionally, a fun encounte; or so I’ve learned over the last two years as I’ve began working full time in such a world. We all know that the artist starves while the art world banks off our backs.
Gallery after gallery rejected Orange, and then there were a few that said, “We like this, but things may be really different in America in 2025, so we’ll get back to you.” Great, a holding pattern like as if some sort of jetliner unable to land. Much to my surprise, the galleries making such choices based on a possible changed landscape in America sometime in a possible future were located in San Francisco and New Orleans; two of the most liberal cities in America. I’ve always had a great deal of love for San Francisco. When I visited the Camelot-like city for the first time in 2007 at the tender age of 27 right from my brothers farm in rural Ohio it was September and I was told “wait until you see this fair we have on the street this time of year.”
I stayed with an artist friend, Rene Capone, who I had never met in person but we connected via an ad in XY Magazine some 7 years before. I touched down in San Francisco, met Rene and explored the big city. It was a beautiful, queer (pun intended) place the likes of which I’ve found nowhere else in America. It was my first time seeing blowjobs being openly given in gay bars, people smoking weed everywhere, and a strange fog just roll in out of nowhere and consume the city. The city smelled so fresh and the red bridge is just a stunning marvel. I was fascinated by the pyramid skyscraper. I stayed for half of month and even considered a move there since at that time in my life I wasn’t doing anything except trying not to join Club 27. I’ve returned to the City by the Bay many times since.
So imagine my surprise when these galleries there (2 of them) rejected Orange because of its content and the fear of the rise of Donald Fucking Trump. Are you kidding me? Yall piss on each other outside and fist in the streets! Clearly, there’s way more to LGBTQ+ San Francisco than Folsom Street Fair, but you catch my drift. I was simply shocked. Is the threat of Trump and Project 2025 really this far reaching and deep already? I’ll be among the first carted off to the fag camp no doubt if it does happen but for fuck sake we cannot let our art be censored, which is exactly what they tried to do to aforementioned photographer George Platt Lynes.
During the summer of 2024 I saw a gallery on Instagram that was located in Madrid, Spain. The gallery’s physical space itself is unique and that’s what I’ve always wanted. I’m not a big fan of white box galleries, but I could easily turn one into a cool space using lights, etc. The Toby Gallery’s exhibit at that time was “The Art of Cruising” and I was like, “oh wow this is great.” I immediately reached out to the gallery owner, Toby, and we began having delightful conversations. He loved Orange and we eventually were able to recently settle on February 2025 to exhibit it.
Delighted to book Orange, and eschewing the American art scene for it’s stupidity in regards to this series, my first international solo exhibit is now scheduled.
See you in Spain.
xo
Monty
Montgomery Maxton 
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