Michael Mitchell Balloons

Rubbers are Fun! (balloons / 2008) - Michael Mitchell

Michael Mitchell is an African-American visual artist involved in homo-erotic themes. He’s a published member of the Leslie Lohman Gallery’s Queer Men’s Erotic Art Workshop. He also did performance painting for several years at The Lure for Pork. “I find performance painting rewarding in that it both demystifies the process and creates a feeling of intimacy and interaction with the audience. It makes the idea of fine art accessible.”

I was thrilled to be asked to participate in the project. I hope that my image of the condom clad penis, that expands with the balloon it’s printed on, is both sexy and amusing. The health crisis looms larger than ever. The number of lives lost worldwide continues to climb. And this project reminds us that the battle rages on. But I hope that the sex-positive attitude that we descendants of the sexual revolution worked so hard to generate isn’t lost in our zeal. The joy of sexual expression is not the enemy. AIDS is the enemy.