Boy George and Freddy Mercury

Andy Warhol and David Bowie

Don’t, even for a second, let yourself think that LGBT culture is all about Grindr, clubbing, drag and bears vs. twinks. Even in today’s times, with homosexuality becoming more and more prominent in media through shows like HBO’s Looking and movies like Blue is the Warmest Colour, the reality is that it is continually difficult to be part of the LGBT community. LGBT members have to consistently fight for their rights — rights that heterosexual people often take for granted. Current hot topics of the day include members of Pussy Riot being released and re-arrested, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signing a new anti-gay law imposing life sentences on homosexuals, and Putin’s gay ‘propaganda’ ban.

With complex issues like these being broadcast in the media, one small seed would like to shine a bit of a different light on the subject. Now don’t get us wrong — we take all homophobic issues very seriously — but by taking a fresh approach on a regularly debated topic, we’d like to remind you exactly why the LGBT community has and is genuinely making the world a better and more interesting place.

Ellen Degeneres and Portia De Rossi

Grace Jones

Let’s Start from the Very Beginning

No surprises here, but just so you know, homosexuality in Ancient Greece was a done thing.

The ancient Greeks considered it natural to be attracted to the ideal, athletic male towards which the society as a whole aspired.

You can’t argue with Greek logic. Think the older members from the cast of the 300 movie pairing with the younger, sexier ones. This was a real Spartan custom called ‘pederasty’ (literally meaning ‘boy love’), and many well-regarded historical figures are considered to have practiced it. Great thinkers like Plato, Herodotus and Socrates explored aspects of same-sex love in their classical antiquity, and who’s to say where else they could have explored…

Arguably, you could say that one of the most influential people in history, literally responsible for changing the world, was gay. While you may not have heard of him before, his name is Alan Turing. And what did he do? During WWII, Nazi Germany employed a tactic that involved a complex procedure where German submarines were being guided to their target through encrypted radio instructions, later decoded by a highly-sophisticated device called the Enigma machine. This tactic was virtually impossible to defend against. That is, until 27-year-old Turing came along and cracked the code. In fact, he did it so well that Churchill was receiving encoded messages before Hitler. To top it off, each and every modern computer is considered to follow the guidelines expressed by Turing almost 80-years-ago. Hmm, how do you think some right-wing conservatives feel about having a gay man to thank for our free world?

Ellen Page and Frank Ocean

Kele Okereke and Neil Patrick Harris

Why Queen Will Always Be King

Undoubtably, there have been many incredibly significant gay people in the past that have changed our society for the better. But history aside, in our most recent past few decades alone, there have been certain individuals who have emerged as true leaders in the gay rights movement, making it a little easier for millions of closeted homosexuals to come out and be gradually accepted into society. One of the individuals we’re thinking of in particular is the legend himself, Freddie Mercury.

60-years-ago, coming out could have destroyed one’s career and endangered one’s life. In fact, HIV/AIDS was only first discussed in films like Philadelphia, and that was just a decade ago in 1994.

Freddie changed so much for the LGBT community worldwide. Along with David Bowie (who — sidenote — was known for getting down to some hanky panky with Rolling Stone’s Mick Jagger), Freddie was one of the first bisexual rock’n roll singers who didn’t hide it. That was a big deal in the fifties and sixties, when homosexuality was illegal in countries like England and the US. By the time Freddie bid us farewell in one of his most famous songs, ‘The Show Must Go On’, he departed as an icon of hope to millions of people worldwide. Freddie was a world-class showman and has often been named ‘The Greatest Rock Legend of All Time’.

Freddie Mercury

Elton John and WHAM’s George Michael

It comes as no surprise then that Freddie Mercury influenced some the greatest artists of all time, including famously gay musicians like George Michael, Boy George and Elton John. In turn, these artists have served as inspiration for current musicians like Tegan and Sara Quin, Kele Okereke from Bloc Party, Tracy Chapman, REM’s Michael Stipe, ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’s Ricky Martin and hip hop star Frank Ocean, who are free to tell the world they’re gay and can still be resoundingly successful. Freddie couldn’t have been more right when he said,

When I’m dead, I want to be remembered as a musician of some worth and substance.

From Closets to Catwalks

As much as there was Freddie to inspire gay men, there is Grace Jones, who sort of famously falls somewhere in the middle of gay and straight, man and woman. Thanks to her uncompromising androgyny that has made her an LGBT icon, Jones is the inspiration behind today’s female artists like Rihanna, Annie Lennox and Lady Gaga. She also collaborated closely with the celebrated gay artist Keith Haring, who painted his muse’s body for her ‘I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect for You)’ video and the 1985 vampire flick, Vamp.

Andy Warhol and his Pop Art of Marilyn Monroe

Fellow androgynous artist Andy Warhol revolutionized the art world, by frequently producing pop art that allowed people to question art. He brought fine art from a very elitist subject, and made it available to all people of all places in society. He produced paintings of famous brands like Campbells Soup cans and Coca Cola bottles, political figures like John F. Kennedy and famous faces like Marilyn Monroe. Warhol tested the limits of society and was famous for his confidence and unique style. He was a trend-setter of the sixties, and still influences society today. Indeed, some of the most famous names in the past and present art scene where LGBT members — Frida Kahlo, David Hockney, Steven Cohen and Annie Leibovitz to name a few. Surprised yet?

Of course, as effortlessly as music merges with art, so art works with fashion. The fashion industry is literally dominated by gay designers who are dictating how the world will dress. We’re talking the likes of Dolce and Gabbana, Karl Lagerfeld, Tom Ford and Ralph Lauren. Just last year, past creative director of Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs, was named Out Magazine‘s 19th most powerful homosexual.There’s something in the way Gianni Versace — who was influenced by Andy Warhol by the way — can make a fabric flow that has made being gay become practically synonymous with being en vogue.

Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel

Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton

A True Rainbow Nation

So what do all these men and women have in common besides their sexual orientation? They have made our world a better place.

Take the Love Parade for example. Started in 1989 by Dr. Motte and his girlfriend, at its peak, the Berlin electronic music festival attracted over 1.5 million people — gay and straight. Why? The festival was all about peace and international understanding through love and music. In fact, that’s exactly why gay pride parades are so amazing — aside from the bright colours, feathers and loud electronica music, everyone goes to simply have fun and spread the message of love. No harm is intended.

Quite frankly, this article is just a perti dish sample of the successful gay people that have and are shaping our world. We looked specifically at select icons, but that doesn’t mean that individuals like actress Ellen Page, NFL Football player Michael Sam, comedian Ellen DeGeneres, or actor Sir Ian McKellan aren’t worth a mention. In fact, consider it a really good sign that there’s too little space in this post to discuss all the LGBT role models there are in the world right now.

All we are trying to say is that being gay is more than okay — it has and will always exist and it’s undeniable that whatever their sexual preference may be, LGBT people add to the rich culture, diversity and interest that society has to offer. Whether you identify as heterosexual, homosexual or as someone in between — remember this: we’re all homo sapiens. So start accepting that fact if you already haven’t. Here’s to embracing the realest rainbow nation of them all.

Words Gosia Podgórska

Who are your favourite LGBT icons and why? Feel free to tweet us on @onesmallseedSA or leave a comment below.

See our gallery below for more famous LGBT icons:

Self-Portrait

Tretchikoff was born in 1913 in Russia and lived a remarkable life, full of adventure, love and superstition, as detailed in his
autobiography, Pigeon’s Luck. Our hero’s tale begins in Russia, then moves at an epic pace through Manchuria, Shanghai, Singapore and finally to Java where he visits a séance with his muse, Lenka. During this chance encounter, Tretchikoff consulted a Ouija board to find out if his wife and daughter – from whom he was separated at the outbreak of World War II – were well. They replied in the affirmative, prompting Tretchikoff to inquire about their specific location S-O-U-T-H… was the cryptic response.

Further communiqués with the spirit realm foretold his imminent worldwide acclaim, right down to the names of his works that would be the most successful (O-R-I-E-N-T-A-L-L-A-D-Y, for example). Tretchikoff was initially dubious of these predictions of international recognition, being virtually under house arrest in Java in the middle of the war, yet he nevertheless headed to South Africa where he was eventually reunited with his family. It would take a few more years for the subsequent prophecies to materialise but, as we all know now, they were spot on.

Miss Wrong 44x34cm

Once settled in Cape Town, he began itching to hold an exhibition but the Association of the Arts deemed his work ‘unsuitable’. This would only help to fuel the fire of his determination that never faltered in the face of ongoing adversary. As an artist he was adored by the public but the critics did not see it the same way, dubbing him ‘The King of Kitsch’. His use of colour was described as ‘lurid’ or ‘garish’ and his paintings were generally regarded as ‘tasteless’. Despite being disavowed by the art fraternity in the country he would call home for more than sixty years, he went on to tour America with great success. ‘The Chinese Girl’ – undoubtedly his most famous work – became one of the most iconic art pieces of all time.

Over the decades since he first began to garner mass appeal, Tretchikoff prints have been sold in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. In fact, his prints have outsold those of his now much better known contemporaries.

His fame allowed him to stage one of the biggest exhibitions of all time in Harrods, where people queued around the block to get a glimpse of the man and his work.

Tretchikoff was a marketing visionary who began by selling his prints for only $1, thereby making fine art accessible to the masses on a previously unimagined scale. In a sense he had created Pop Art before the term had even been coined. Wayne Hemingway, the legendary English fashion designer, said of him: “Tretchikoff achieved everything that Andy Warhol stated he wanted to, but could never achieve because of his coolness.”

Balinese Girl 37 x 33cm

Tretchikoff once remarked that the only difference between himself and Vincent van Gogh was that the ill-fated Dutch painter died a pauper, whereas he became wealthy. Nevertheless, neither’s work was truly appreciated for what it was and they never lived to see the fame that they had deservedly earned. Saatchi & Saatchi Gallery UK is about to release a list of the top two hundred most influential artists of the 20th century, and Tretchikoff has once again been snubbed. His name wasn’t even on the shortlist of people to vote for – even though his artwork is amongst the most iconic and well recognised of all time.

Today his granddaughter Natasha Mercorio has established the Tretchikoff Renaissance in Cape Town, an initiative intent on rekindling the public’s love of this great artist by using his images in amazing new formats. Some of these will be deservingly expensive, but most – as the King of Kitsch originally intended – are aimed at the hoi polloi, who will hopefully once again embrace his art for what it was and still is: an expression of his passion and his love for art and painting. The revival of his legacy will undoubtedly inspire a new generation of artists fortunate enough to live in a more open-minded era. His uncompromising and passionate approach to his work should, in fact, be an inspiration to us all.

Express your passion, do what you love, no matter what,

he famously said. The words of a true pioneer.

Penny Whistlers

WORDS: Talya Goldberg

Read the rest of issue 15

Click here to view our #flashBack selection for September.

Click here to view all our #Flashbacks.

But looking at the two definitions, how far apart are plagiarism and intertextuality really. In a post-modern age so much media in all it’s forms are a hybrid or pastiche of what has been before, with frankenstein like efficiency, media is chopped up from all era’s and blended together to make something new, while paying homage to the narrative which informed it. In Issue 24 of one small seed – out now! – we chat to Mr Brainwash, the man who refers to himself as ‘Banksy’s greatest work of art’… But how original is his art, or is it ‘art’ at all?

Andy Warhol started the pop art scene in the 1960’s, with his factory and screen print process, a leading figure in the visual art movement, he was best known for his paintings of iconic american products, the campbells soup cans, coca-cola and iconic celebrities of the time, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson. Even though he was attacked for capitulating to consumerism, pop art asked what is art, who decides what art is, Warhol painted soup cans and openly embraced the market culture, courting the rich and famous and gaining commissions for their portraits.

Fourty years later we have Mr Brainwash, a pseudonym for Thierry Guetta, his art of choice involves stencils and silk screens of well known icons in the pop art style used by Warhol. How far can intertextuality and pastiche or parody go before they become plagiarism? The hyperconsciousness of Mr Brainwash’s art is far from subtle, while all art is linked in the evolution of genre and style and reference the past in a global communication while evolving, where is the line between referencing and property theft drawn? Mr Brainwash commented on Andy Warhol saying, “I think that Warhol would have done the same if he were still alive” .

Another artist Mr Brainwash flatters with imitation is Banksy the popular and controversial graffiti artist out of Bristol. Banksy’s distinctive stenciling style encompasses political and social commentary, satirizing famous artwork, artists and public figures.The stencil style of Banksy is a nod to parisian graffiti artist, Blek le Rat. Unlike Mr Brainwash, Banksy’s graffiti parodies the very people who clamor to buy it. At his inception as a graffiti artist, Banksy was considered a counterculture artist, with his stencils and artworks a scathing commentary on consumerism and politics. But how can you comment on a culture that makes you wealthy, is it wrong to profit from social commentary and profit well? In the age of capitalism and consumerism, counter culture cannot exist for in a post -modern age the boundaries between high and low culture are blurred, and that which is outside the mainstream culture will simply be appropriated by it and become part of it.

And so the cycle continues, from Warhol to Blek le Rat, Banksy and Mr Brainwash, art at it’s finest, retouched, reproduced and referenced or plagiarized. To read the exclusive interview with Mr Brainswash get your copy of one small seed issue 24 out on sale in January and hear his thoughts on his art, Banksy and Andy Warhol.

images: Mr Brainwash