You know how Bible-thumpers are so keen to talk about Adam and Eve, “not Adam and Steve”? Well, a queer artist has explored what Adam and Steve might actually look like… and many online think the result is beautiful.
Astra Zero, otherwise known as Dustin, is a gay man based in British Columbia, Canada. He’s built up an online following with artwork that previously tended towards the macabre: Hunky zombies and twisted superheroes portrayed in an increasingly sophisticated comic book style.
“Sexually charged, sci-fi, queer, gothic pop,” is how he has described it in the past.
More recent work has seen him experiment with reworkings of old masters or Renaissance classics.
Hence, “The Temptation of Adam & Steve’, a revamp of The Fall of Man by Peter Paul Rubens (1628). The Rubens’ original shows Eve being tempted by a devil to eat an apple in the Garden of Eden.
A censored version (below) of the image appeared on the @Astrazero Instagram this week.
Adam and Steve by Astra Zero (reproduced with permission)
An NSFW, uncensored version, without fig leaves, is on Twitter.
Both have proved popular and resulted in a flood of orders for prints.
Modern old masters
Astra Zero’s Instagram shows several other reworkings of old masters.
Queerty caught up with Dustin to ask what inspired his new work.
He says he’s always been into historical artwork, “and fascinated by the drama behind most of it and the original artists.”
“I also found it interesting how many historical works showcased women with such rebellious and sexual undertones. I thought it would be fun to put an erotic queer spin on some of my faves, depicting ‘men’ in the same light, but with a stereotypical modern twist. Back then it was absurd for men to be painted with big packages or be overly sexual … that was reserved for images of women.”
Was he surprised that Adam and Steve struck a chord with people?
“A lot of the revamps I’ve been doing have been premeditated for a reaction. Mixing anything queer and sexual with religion, and then mixing that with stereotypical standards of male beauty, usually gets some attention. But yeah, some of my newer work has gotten more attention than like expected and I’m so grateful!
“Being a full-time artist and living off your work is a daily struggle, so any amount of exposure is amazing.”
Sunday school hell
Is Dustin religious himself?
“I’m not, no. I actually wanted to be when I was a kid though. My mom is also not religious and I used to beg her to let me go to Sunday school when I was little because the other kids in my class who attended always talked about it. So she finally let me.
“The first day I came home from Sunday school with a detailed drawing of us burning in hell. I’ve always been an artist, so it was pretty detailed! And my mom was like, ‘yeah no, you’re not going back there’,” he laughs.
Check out Astrazero.com for more information and merchandise.
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