Stuart Sandford sits at his tidy desk in the rather un-rock and roll area of the capital, south Kensington. Oh yes darlings, my high tops are off and have dusted off a pair of pricey looking but easy on the wallet vintage boots, chosen to provide the essential foot covering element to treading the gold lined pavements of the west in search of sexy new art star Stuart Sandford. Well ok, sharing the pavement with people who have more gold than me. Alas I couldn't let go of my 3 pairs for a fiver ear bling though, which hindered me slightly as I found myself having to engage in the smiley eye dance of trust with the security guard following me around Harrods.
In the basement of a rather fine pillared town house sits the young man in question. Prescription Raybans provide trendy face furniture for the freckly faced young artist, most famous for his 'Cumfaces' project; intimate snaps of good looking guys in the height of climax commissioned by Gay Times in 2007.
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“Its kinda annoying in a sense, I did it 2 years ago and its not something I want to continue doing more of. People liked it, it was published in 2 magazines just last month but you'll never see another project like it again from me.”
Knowing similar works were easy to come by, Sandford utilized his Myspace following and reached out to the developing internet generation intent on projecting themselves to the masses, who, like we all were, were busy cultivating a new self obsession through the social networking and profile creating frenzy. Enquiring as to if they might be willing to expose themselves on a new level- by capturing themselves intimately on the brink of orgasm- mandatory rules only stated pictures must be landscape, of head and shoulders, and on a bed, the rest was history. Since first featuring in Gay Times the project has been commended globally by publications like Attitude, Butt and Blend and Sandford has featured in countless profiles on blogs and internet magazines waxing lyrical about growing up and his discovery of cocks and asses.
He's exhibited an installation in LA, shown in extremist right-wing Poland where his work was dubbed 'Sperm Mugs,' a title he said he wish he thought of, and collated the sexual shots in a sell-out a5 book. Success was found around the world, and plans even laid for a follow up 'Cumfaces: part 2', but today calls his most famed work an “aberration,” an eccentric state of abnormality and is keen instead to focus on current projects, stating that he “probably wouldn't have done Cumfaces it if it wasn't commissioned.”
A true Ribber, brushing off the old and looking forward to the new era...but what exactly has Stewie Stu got under his belt right now?
It would seem teen 80's pin up's are the name of the game. Re-photographed images featuring studs of the shoulder padded era like Chad Allen and Noel Hathaway make up the 'Teen Dreams' series. Taken from magazines like Tiger Beat, 16 and Bravo “it was the kinda stuff I was looking at when I was a teenager...I would say young boys innocence is a theme. Malibu was a hell of a long way away from Sheffield where I grew up, I was coming out, I was plump I grew up with these guys. I thought there's already a glutinous amount of photos out there, why shouldn't I take the pictures that already exist and appropriate them into my own work.”
So far, so sexy. Sandford further plays with our take on the male chastity of a bygone decade with his 'Blow Job' video piece that sees a head and shoulder shot of Mark Paul Gosselaar, Zac in Saved by the Bell, dreaming about Kelly, where Sandford has looped some provocactive eye closing footage to suggest something all together more satisfying than mere fantasy! A parody of Warhol's video piece of the same title: “I love what blow job suggests. With this series, its more about taking the boys out of their context- if we look at that fashion now, its a bit too sexual and a bit too suggestive, but back in the 80's it was ordinary.”
Sandford's latest offering comes in the form of pretend porn and reveals a cheeky humour. Granting Ribbed an exclusive preview of his new work inspired by the Momas lyric "Every lie creates a parallel world, the world in which it is true." He stays true to the frizzy haired era of the 80s, but this time presents manipulated images depicting stars in compromising sexual activities, his first of Lost Boys star Corey Heim. Sure to lead audiences into manifesting overwhelming needs to process the image twice and question the its authenticity, they're tongue in cheek double truths. I can see Corey's fake bum and everything, ooh matron!
So are we dealing with products from a horny artiste that sets youporn as his home page?
“I want to be playful rather than in your face sexual. I'm heavily influenced by my sexual experiences, but wouldn't say my influences are found in porn, I think that's quite a thick line.” Indeed having mentally prepared for a no-holds-barred talk-off about the depths and possibilities of willies, bums, intercourse and fondling, I find Stuart the man substantially shyer than his work would suggest. This instead is a guy who adorns his work space with alien ornaments and enforces a strict shoes-off policy before entering: “my interest is more how peoples perceptions of my work change depending on surrounding circumstances.”
And what circumstances might the world manifest for the sock-wearer-around-the-house in a new era?
“Open source culture and a re-writing of copyright laws are essential. Ones that mean we can get the best out of modern services but people get paid properly.” I'm privately hoping for some more well executed cheeky photo manipulations...
Currently lending his hand to music videos, Stuart adds: “I get annoyed when people label my work gay, I happen to be gay and I'm influenced by my experiences. I just happen to find sexual suggestions in a lot of places!”
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