GAYLETTER

As a queer person, I know two things to be true: We can never have enough shit with rainbows on them and we can never stop supporting the members of our community in need. Tim-Scapes has created a new design to benefit the victims of the Orlando massacre. It features a rainbow and Tim-Scapes’s signature duct tape lettering. The design can be purchased as a print, t-shirt or tank top, with 100% of the proceeds going to Equality Florida’s Pulse Victims’ Fund.

Tim-Scapes is known as the “little shop with the big gay heart” based in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It’s run by Tim Convery, an ex-New York executive who moved to P-town back in 2010 and rediscovered his creativity with Tim-Scapes. As explained on his website, “Convery’s designs celebrate vintage travel posters utilizing his unique duct tape typeface and creating bold logos of over 50 American destinations. Each design is a colorful, geometric icon highlighting a famous landmark or drawing attention to a social cause.”

The Orlando logo was originally created only to show solidarity on social media. But, due to the reaction of his customers, Tim began selling shirts featuring the logo for charity. “I was really surprised about the design’s popularity and immediately went into production,” said Convery. “This whole project became a crystallization of what I want Tim-Scapes to be about – helping people through the power of design.”

While the exclusive Orlando design is available only through Labor Day, many of Tim’s logos are available as standalone prints, mugs and even trivets. …

We had a super busy Summer so far and we are very grateful for that. For those of you who were paying attention, we launched Issue 4 of our magazine with two separate covers, one by photographer Kostis Fokas and one by Gerardo Vizmanos. Our latest endeavour is a collaboration with Print All Over Me.

The official announcement should come soon, but you’re reading our newsletter so you get to find out first. “The collection is made up of utilitarian classics – T-shirts, baseball hats and tote bags – with full bleed prints of Issue 4’s striking covers…Their respective images depict a landscape of multiracial behinds and a portrait of a man making contact with his own reflection.”

More about Issue 4, which is almost sold out. It features work by photographer, Alvin Baltrop, Campbell Addy, Hal Fischer (author of Gay Semiotics), the comedian Josh Thomas, Rumi Mussabi (a founding member of The Cockettes), a look at the Tom of Finland house in Los Angeles, an amazing feature on Edmund White photographed by Slava Mogutin amongst other things.

The collection is available for purchase here. …

Pansy Ass pay homage to the legendary Tom of Finland in their latest series of granny ceramics. The Canadian combo of Andy Walker and Kris Aaron are relatively fresh on the art scene, but their pretty as fuck illustrations painted on equally pretty (but in a daintier sense) ceramics, have built up a huge following. The one-of-a-kind pieces feature men riding hard while proudly proclaiming the virtues of being a ‘pole smoker’ or a ‘pillow biter.’ Not only is this collaboration a perfect fit, it’s also a celebration of old and new, honoring Finland’s legacy with a modern pinch of “heyyyy.”

Here’s what Pansy Ass has to say about their inspiration: “Like many queer artists of our generation we’ve been heavily influenced by Tom of Finland’s work.  What is most striking to us in Tom’s hyper-real fantasies are the expressions on the men’s faces. Smirks, winks and mischievous grins make his work playful yet equally kinky and fetishistic.” The end result is something super sexy, super fun and most importantly SUPER GAY!

Not only is each piece custom made, but a slice of the profits go directly to the Tom of Finland Foundation which “offers a safe haven for all erotic art and continues to educate the public as to its cultural merits promoting healthier, more tolerant attitudes about sexuality.” So not only are you getting a unique piece of gayness but you’re helping to demystify sexual expression and break down all those gay taboos. Plus, wouldn’t you just love to have a hot policeman on a ceramic plate, winking at you? …

Listen up friends, if you love Tom of Finland as much as we do and want to take your sex life to the next level, you need this rubber. “These special edition Tom of Finland condoms are the result of a unique collaboration with Tom of Finland Foundation” and the ONE brand. “The ONE brand is all about promoting sexual health through artistry and self-expression,” and they have taken 24 different Tom of Finland works to be featured for a special edition line of condoms. In true Finland fashion, these condoms feature only the beefiest guys in their most tender moments. Yes, getting groped is absolutely tender and if you were thinking you were the only one who felt this way you were wrong. Who doesn’t love a good “peter squeeze?” Yasss!

 
I can’t provide you with much of a field report just yet,  but I will say the packaging is pretty cunt. Something about circular packaging gets the dick going as opposed to those square cases your ex-boyfriend’s generic rubber came in. (Lifestyles? What is that?!) It’s something about sex and circumference. Are you catching what I’m throwing? Good.

“During the 1980s, at the height of the AIDS crisis, Tom of Finland (Touko Laaksonen) began including condoms in his drawings to help curb the epidemic.The ONE brand shares the Foundation’s commitment to promoting healthier attitudes about sexuality, said [his partner Durk] Dehner, Tom of Finland was dubbed ‘the Michelangelo of safe sex,’ promoting sexual health, particularly among gay men.” …

The Toronto based artists Andy Walker and Kris Aaron have an obsession with vintage ceramics and are particularly drawn to the florals and elaborate designs that they found on antique china. While creating one of a kind, hand-painted pieces, they developed a campy, graphic and fun sensibility that got our attention, Pansy Ass Ceramics — paints erotic drawings on traditional china. “We travel around Toronto collecting pieces to paint on that fit within the aesthetic we like, then we do designs based on the shape and decoration of the piece…”

Andy told me more about it during our Facebook chat: “The idea plays with decorative/commemorative plates, and we make them sexy, campy and gay…My partner Kris and I do the drawings and we choose images that turn us on, and try to make interesting contrasts with the original design of the piece.” They usually paint on ceramic they find, mostly bone china and 50s-60s Japanese ceramic figurines. However, they are working on producing their own pieces from scratch in the coming months. They also take custom orders as long as it fits with their brand. They are super busy at the moment producing new work for our online store and other collaborations that we will see soon.

Check out our custom GAYLETTER tea set, we are obsessed!

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For the longest time when I thought of Susan Sarandon I thought of the haunting beauty she played in Rocky Horror. Years later I still have this reaction, but the woman is so much more than the iconic Janet Weiss. Sarandon is a self-proclaimed feminist, supporter of LGBTQ rights, and everything I wish Hollywood could be. One of Susan’s latest projects, for which she serves as executive producer, is Deep Run — it’s a documentary that tells the story of Cole Ray Davis, an Evangelical teen undergoing a gender transition in a Bible-ridden North Carolina community. The film delves into the main character’s ever-changing family dynamic, his relationship with God, and it could not be more relevant today with trans-visibility in the public eye more than ever.

To help finance the film, Susan has designed a limited edition tee that boldly reads “Embrace Change.” Split and appropriately accented by a lightening strike, the shirt also features two photos of her from her notorious Rocky Horror role. The shirt is available on sale for less than 24 hours with 100% of the proceeds going towards financing the film, which is set to premier this Summer. Buy it betch. Caitlyn Jenner’s isn’t the only trans-tale worth telling!

Get it here. …

If you’ve been looking for a good excuse to hop across the pond next year, your search is officially over: the Warwick Rowers are prepping a 2014 edition of their annual nude calendar, shot this time around by photographer Angus Malcolm. And judging by the boys’ sunkissed, totally-NSFW sneak peek video, complete with some of the most superbly gratuitous ass shots you’re likely to see all year, it’s already shaping up to be their best outing yet.

Stripping down for the fifth year in a row, the hot UK rowing team haven’t been baring their perfectly sculpted bodies and flouncing around the English countryside with each other for nothing (not that we’d complain if that were the case, either). As if you needed a better reason to grab your own copy of the calendar, the bulk of the proceeds go directly to Sport Allies, a reach-out program that raises awareness about homophobia, bullying, and low self-esteem, as well as providing 24/7 hotlines for at-risk teenagers struggling with their sexual identity.

Gorgeous, naked, and charitable? Please form a line right in front of me. Check out the video below, and be sure to order your copy of the 2014 calendar at the Warwick Rowers online shop to support their cause.

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Cupcakes and ice cream and pies — oh my! PAPER is back for round two with its Super(Duper)Market. The pop-up shop showcases over 35 vendors selling goodies and treats ranging from jam and spices to kombucha and green tea confections. And that’s not all, there will be ongoing workshops on how to make fanciful food creations like banana dogs and pretzel butterflies. How cute is that?

This fantastical grocery store, curated by PAPER Co-Publisher, Editor, and downtown dynamite Kim Hastreiter, will occupy 4,000 square feet on Mulberry St. The featured markets come from both the west and east coasts, which means you can try yum-yums from California that you’ve never even heard of, or indulge in signature dishes from local favorites like Momofuku Milk Bar and La Esquina. Whatever you want, baby you got it.

FREE, Friday August 2nd and Sunday August 4th 11AM-4PM. Saturday August 3rd 11AM-6PM. 258 Mulberry St. NY, NY.

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