Peter Berlin: Icon

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Berlin's photographs and artwork have been exhibited around the world, including the exhibition "Split/Vision" (New York, 1986), curated by Mapplethorpe, and in the exhibition "Berlin on Berlin" (2006) at the Leslie Lohman Gallery in New York. Another '70s icon, plus-sized drag star Divine, gets her own homage in a show at the Fringe Festival (an annual event for people who must really love theater, because there's never enough air conditioning, lol). Written by E. Dale Smith from a concept by Braden Chapman (a.k.a. drag star Mimi Imfurst), Divine/Interventiontakes us to the end of Divine's life in 1988, as the John Waters cult star is about to do a guest role as a man on Married With Children, a career twist that tragically wasn't meant to be. When you're living in that era, you take it as normal and nothing special. When I was part of Studio 54, everyone was running there. There were big lines outside, and [co-owner] Steve Rubell was standing on some kind of pedestal to look over the adoring people. He said, "Peter you don't have to be in line." I was ushered in. Anderson, James: "Peter Berlin Sixty-Something German Artist From San Francisco Spent His Entire Life Getting Laid", BUTT Magazine, Summer, 2004

Most illuminating and exciting, of course, is the extensive commentary by Berlin himself, still looking remarkably boyish in his early 60s. Tushinski's interviews are complemented perfectly with an astonishing archive of photos and film clips that reveal the full scope of Berlin’s impressive body of work. Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in. It’s a real celebration of queer sexuality,” said Thomas Cawson, creative director of Helmut Lang, of Berlin’s influence. “Celebrating a totally queer language of what streetwear looks like. Everything we do at Helmut, there’s always that undercurrent of referencing those iconic, underground moments. Especially when there is that beautiful queer twist to it.” Peter Berlin was the subject of several Robert Mapplethorpe photographs, four drawings by Tom of Finland, and at least one portrait by Andy Warhol, attesting to his worldwide celebrity. Aside from his role in the sexual revolution helping make gay men and gay sexuality more visible to the public at large, Berlin was responsible for the definition of many gay archetypes which persist today, while contributing to the achievement of artistic legitimacy for erotic gay subject matter, in general.Jonny is extremely personable and generous. In fact, after a Flaming Saddles bartender hopped atop the bar to do some elaborate two-stepping, he didn't think twice about handing the guy a five dollar tip. "He really did amazing stuff up there," Jonny told me, "plus before we were anything, he used to work at Mother Burger [an HK restaurant], and I'd go to him to get fed. He'd give me a free burger because I was hungry." Anyone who hands out food to future stars and can also dance up a gay storm on a bar deserves a shot at President, in my opinion. If he also knows who Peter Berlin is, he can definitely be my next husband.

As directed by Chapman, Ryan Walter and Bobby Goodrich are well cast and truly terrific in those roles, and the other actors score as notable figures in Glenn/Divine's life, like quirky auteur Waters, excitable manager Bernard Jay, and various boy toys angling for their place in the sun. There's ultimately too much angst and screaming, but Divine/Intervention does a strong job of probing Divine's dark side and exploring the real feelings behind the false lashes. Berlin’s cultural contributions were so many decades ahead of his time and so unique—not fitting cleanly into either the world of art or the world of pornography—that understanding their relevance and impact requires the invention of a new terminology. I propose the word photosexuality and aim to make the case that Berlin was the first acclaimed male photosexual and the leading pioneer of its practice. As I see it, photosexuality is a contemporary mainstream sexuality in which erotic self-portraiture—the documentation of one’s own sex acts and the private and public distribution of those images—is intertwined so completely with one’s sex life that it becomes as important as the sex acts themselves and, in some cases, even more important. Berlin designed and sewed all of his clothing without a pattern. He also was a painter and illustrator. He began photographing himself in erotic poses and making skin-tight clothes to wear as he cruised the parks and train stations of Berlin, and the streets of Rome, Paris, New York and San Francisco. Many of his designs are now seen in the fashion works of such international designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier. [ citation needed] Filmmaking and celebrity [ edit ] He spoke about being an icon to so many in the gay community, saying it surprised him to hear how much of an influence he’s had on men’s lives. Peter Berlin grew up in Berlin in the 1940s and 1950s. He studied photography and his first job was working for the fashion photography journal, VIP Shaukel. This “ordinary life,” however, did not last long. A Dorian Gray-type character, Berlin once caught sight of his own reflection in a shop window in Paris; mistaking his own face for that of another and believed he had found true love.After a period of cruising bars, streets and house parties, Berlin comes to the realization that “normal sex”—meaning sex in a bedroom with one partner—barely interests him. Throughout the course of the film he discovers the key elements he needs to get turned on: leather, public spaces, role-play, and exhibitionism. The film concludes with him journaling as his voiceover explains, “By now, normal sex seems so boring to me. I like much more to get into perverse trips . . . but as far as normal sex is concerned, one of the best experiences I have ever had was last week, when these two boys approached me at the gym. They asked me to come with them, because they enjoyed nothing more then having sex on a couch with spotlights aimed at them and an audience watching.” For Berlin’s rapidly advancing taste, “normal” has come to mean engaging with multiple partners for spectators. By the film’s end, he is finished with traditional sexuality. Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Armin Hagen Freiherr von Hoyningen-Huene (28 December 1942) is a German-American photographer, artist, filmmaker, clothing designer/sewer, and model best known by his stage name Peter Berlin. In the early to mid-1970s. [1]At the Mine Shaft, did you sprawl out in the famous bathtub and get urinated on, perchance? That was a common occurrence there. It just happened. My life happened, it was not me having a vision, when I started to photograph myself that’s how it started. A friend said, ‘Oh Peter maybe you should just show it’ and he had a gallery in Berlin and he put it on the wall and that’s where it started to be public. And then of course I made two films because I met this guy in San Francisco and he had a camera, and he said you know let’s make a porno. Because that’s the only thing I was so obsessed with: sex.”

With his trademark Dutchboy haircut, Tom of Finland physique, and oh-so-tight trousers, Peter Berlin was the poster boy for the hedonistic and sexually-liberated 1970s. Jim Tushinski’s fascinating, sexy, and ultimately touching documentary, That Man: Peter Berlin, traces Berlin's story over the past 40 years, from his birth in wartime Germany to his current life in San Francisco, and shows the human being behind the icon. Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family. Almost 50 years after his uncompromising films and daring self-portraits made him a defining gay sex symbol of the ’70s, Peter Berlin can’t quite fathom why anyone would still be interested in his work. Yet he’s also bothered that the rest of the world hasn’t remade itself in his image—and that’s just one of the many contradictions that make Berlin so fascinating. He’s an introvert known for his exhibitionism; a gifted photographer whose only subject is himself; a porn star who doesn’t much care for sex; and a man who responded to the artifices that so many gay men constructed to hide their true selves by creating an even more exaggerated sexual and stylistic persona.I told Sherie about the Lombard/Hawn comparisons and she grinningly replied, "My hairdresser will love that! And I love that no one under 50 will know who Carole Lombard is. 'Which talk show host is that?'" Hey, I will gladly educate them one by one, about Carole, Peter Berlin, Stonewall, and my childhood.