Sad Boys byThomas Mars

Casual nudity is not something I practice or participate in often — however I am comfortable with it and I believe it is a great way to combat body dysmorphia. I did have a very unique experience posing for Spencer Tunick in 2016, which was a remarkable experience. I have admired his work for years and was so thrilled to participate in one of his pieces. (I have a signed print hanging in my bathroom!)

The Sad Boys collection is a series of 99 paintings, each created from a single cumshot and small amount of blood. Each painting is a collaborative effort between an anonymous, queer-identified individual — who ejaculates onto the canvas — and myself — who the blood was drawn from.

The basis of this project is the FDA’s archaic blood donation ban on many members of the LGBTQ+ community. Each piece is an abstract portrait of the participant, there is something unique to each painting and to the interpretation of the viewer — like an erotic Rorschach.

At its inception I found participants via friends and acquaintances, which eventually grew through word-of-mouth and social media. Participants are offered privacy during the creation of the work, as well as through the naming of each piece. It was important to me to not give each painting a unique name as I did not want to create any sense of hierarchy in the collection.

Additionally, I wanted to avoid sensationalizing or labeling pieces that were created by specific people — each piece holds equal value to the next. As a result, the creation of the work is quite intimate and has afforded me an opportunity to get to know people on a deeper basis, as well as create fast friendships with strangers. A very close friend of mine who has opened up many doors for me to exhibit my work met me through creating a Sad Boys painting!

This ban continues to uphold outdated biases and stigma, and this series was created with the intent to reclaim and celebrate these two life-giving bodily fluids. As recently as April 2020, the FDA relaxed its restrictions on “MSM” or “Men who have sex with men” (their official terminology) from a 12-month abstinence period to one of 3 months. While this may feel like a step in the right direction, it does not eliminate the stigma that is associated with queer sexual practices.

I began this series in October 2017 after looking at a cumshot pattern that reminded me of a Jackson Pollock painting — spontaneous, dramatic, and totally wild. In essence, a cumshot is a moment of joy that is ephemeral in nature — the feeling is fleeting, and the actual physical product is typically disposed of in an unceremonious manner. The idea was to queerify Pollock’s work and to challenge the stigma of queer bodily fluids, which is bolstered by the decades-old blood ban.

I am very excited to be publishing a book of the entire collection in the near future with Raw Meat Collective. More information will be published at thomasmars.com and on Instagram @tmars.