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A lonely figure sits in a hotel room, staring at you with a slight smirk. It could be a snapshot that you see in any vacation picture but, on closer examination, the man is naked, sporting an erection and a hint of mischief in his eyes. German artist Matthias Herrmann has been documenting himself through photography for years. His canvas is his beautiful body and how it plays and occupies the space around it. Whether it’s in a boring hotel room or, as in his latest work “Toscana,” in an open field, Herrmann’s photographs challenge issues of masculinity and the gay body with a sly sense of humor. Whether he's dressed in women’s clothing or appearing in his underwear, Herrmann’s pictures take a refreshing look at how gay men are perceived not only through the eyes of straight culture but also through our own queer vision.
You said that your work was very Austrian. What did you mean by that?
I’m German and I moved to Austria when I was 23. At that time I was a ballet dancer and was hired by the Vienna State Opera Ballet Company. I was so surprised to learn that out of 85 dancers in the company, only one male dancer was officially gay. So this showed me quite drastically how far behind Austria was—and partly still is today—when it comes to issues of gender and same sex relationships. I always perceived Austria as being very conservative as a society. So I do think my work is partly indebted to this situation I was and am facing.
With the advent of the Internet and the deluge of so much homoerotic imagery and porn, do you think that male nudity still has the power to shock?
I guess so! Somehow the religious right seems to be quite afraid of the (gay) male (sexualized) body.... The Internet seems to be regarded as being a semi-private sphere not yet belonging entirely to the public sphere. My latest book for instance was seized by US customs because it was regarded as pornography. Apart from this disputable classification I am wondering why the US, being the biggest producer of porn, is “afraid” of porn coming from outside.
What I love about your work is that not only is it sexy but it is also very funny. How important is humor in your work?
I think humor is always very important. In my work it does serve certain purposes—like making “difficult topics” more accessible through a humorous side.
My favorite series of yours is “Hotel” where you appear to set up a camera and play in a hotel room. Perhaps it plays into my notion of hotels as being quite sexy, but what attracted you to use hotel rooms as platforms for your photography?
There was a very mundane reason in the beginning: I have a day job that keeps me very busy and I do sometimes feel when in Vienna I am not getting enough studio time and energy for my own work. As I am traveling a lot, setting up a studio in hotel rooms seemed to be a good way out of this dilemma. Of course hotels are sexy, they carry so much information and history. This history is officially of course a straight history (you never see a gay couple in the brochure of a hotel that is not explicitly catering to a gay clientele) while there is a lot of gay activity going on in every hotel, I imagine.
In your most recent series “Toscana,” you’ve moved away from the interior life of hotels and venture into the outdoors. What has been challenging about documenting yourself outside as opposite to inside?
Oh, there is always the challenge of getting caught by your neighbors naked with a hard-on and a butt plug up your ass. I felt it was interesting to venture more into the public realm, leaving the confined, private area of the studio and apply a strategy like “queering public space.” I think I am quite a skilled photographer and I was interested in exploring more photography issues like texture and light, which the studio does not ask for in such a wide range.
I’m curious about something you said in an interview about queer identity and wanted to know what your thoughts on queer identity are today? Has it changed or has it remained stagnant?
I think it always changes, each generation has to come to terms with its own identity. We do face a strong cultural and political backlash right now, coming from the US and leaving marks everywhere on the globe. There seems to be more of a need for a counter-culture today than ten years before.
You’ve said in an interview that “role models and clichés” interest you. Why do you think that is? Is your work a way of appropriating the standard ideas and infusing them with new meanings?
That would be nice! We’re still (or maybe better: again?) confronted with such a reactionary idea of how a “good life” should be lived that I think it is important to propose alternatives to this. There seems to be such a strong interest in uniformity—and all big and important advancements were and are coming from people who are breaking out of this uniformity. So I do think it is good and healthy to critically view what is offered as role models.
How has being HIV-positive affected your work?
My work has always been a reaction to the threat posed by HIV and AIDS. Since I tested positive myself, my own disposition of course changed and my work has also helped me to voice my very own fear and angst. I do hope, though, that this does transcend my own being and that my thoughts don’t get stuck in a closed circuit. I would be happy to offer something to people in a similar or even worse situation than the one I am facing.
For more on Matthias Herrman, visit hermann-studio.com.
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