Body Work

There are three key elements to consider when engaging with the art of cruising: fashion, body language, and eye contact. In his pioneering self-portraits, Peter Berlin masterfully embodies all three. Five decades into his practice, the German-American multi-hyphenate is finally getting his long-overdue Los Angeles debut with an exhibition titled “Permission to Stare” in Melrose Hill. Presented by Mariposa Gallery, it was curated by actor and Art Talks host Russell Tovey. 

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The week-long exhibition presents the sex symbol and gay icon’s extensive media presence over the years. A rare collection of self-portraits, memorabilia, and original clothing blur the line between merch and art, high and low, all sourced from private collections and the artist's archive. In Self Portrait in Black Leather on Weight Bench, taken during the ‘70s, the artist sits, open-legged, atop a bench press, dressed in fetish wear and a combat helmet. Dark shadows caress his face as he softly grips his leather-bound chest. A postmodernist subversion of masculinity and identity politics, the gelatin silver print is an achromatic middle finger to the homophobic and misogynistic world views of gay men at the time. 

Berlin, who was born Armin Hagen Freiherr von Hoyningen-Huen, was already a prolific figure in the international cruising scene when he settled in San Francisco from New York via Germany at the age of 28. Leather-clad and muscled, with a signature blonde pageboy cut, he appeared in gay magazines like The Advocate and Blueboy and was featured in Illustrations by Tom of Finland and photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe and Andy Warhol. But Berlin was first and foremost his own muse. His homoerotic mixed-media self-portraits catapulted the artist to fame in the ‘70s and ‘80s at the height of the gay liberation movement. He produced and starred in pornographic films Nights in Black Leather (1973) and That Boy (1974)—and although his intentions were not overtly political in nature, his artful documentation of sexual satisfaction was a radical display of defiance in a post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS world.

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Berlin’s boldly-colored, hand-painted chromogenic print Self Portrait with Blindfold and Porthole, circa 1970s, sees the artist’s more surrealist and introspective side. In the image, Berlin is applying a blindfold amidst a Dalí-esque landscape, wearing a leather G-string and fingerless gloves—this is just one of many pieces exploring the gamut of his photo manipulation and mixed media experimentations.

In Los Angeles, Berlin’s work commands the public gaze once more. After retiring his artistic persona in the ‘80s due to his growing disillusion with the art world, Berlin’s legacy continued to resonate with new generations. In 2019, the release of a monograph, Peter Berlin: Icon, Artist, Photosexual, underscored Berlin’s cultural relevance. In 2022, a pride capsule collection designed by Glenn Martens for Diesel featured Tom of Finland’s famous illustration of the artist. And his groundbreaking practice of self documentation is also present in less direct ways, too: Echoes of his early images can be seen in mirrored on mood boards and emulated in gym photos and underwear selfies posted online by gay men using pseudonyms. Today, the 82-year-old Berlin re-enters the spotlight in Hollywood. 

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“Permission to Stare” is on view until February 23, 2025, at 526 N Western Ave, Hollywood, CA.