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'Lil Nas X' by Barnaby Edwards

FOR SALE: £395

Acrylic on toned card, 2023. Framed under glass: 30cm x 35cm. Delivers worldwide. Please share with friends, family and rich enemies.

Link: https://barnabyedwards.co.uk/shop/art-lgbtq-heroes/lil-nas-x-original-artwork

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Barnaby Edwards - Derek Jarman

(charcoal on toned card, 2023)

Derek Jarman (1942-1994) was a British artist, writer, designer, activist, and one of the most significant filmmakers of his generation. Training at the Slade School of Fine Art, Jarman’s early works were experimental 8mm arthouse shorts. Moving into feature films, he initially made his name as a production designer, working on Ken Russell’s The Devils (1971), before making his directorial debut with Sebastiane (1976), which made waves with its Latin dialogue and its bold homoeroticism, making it one of the first films to present gay sexuality in an unflinching and positive light. Jarman’s credentials as a pioneer of British cinema during the punk era were burnished by Jubilee (1978) and The Tempest (1979), and as he began to find a wider audience, his projects continued to alight on queer subject matter: they included Caravaggio (1986), Edward II (1991) and Wittgenstein (1993). Jarman’s status as a darling of the British avant-garde led to numerous collaborations with other artists, including music videos for the likes of Marc Almond, The Smiths, Suede, and perhaps most famously the Pet Shop Boys, whose Jarman commissions included the video for their chart-topping classic ‘It’s a Sin’. A tireless champion of gay rights, a trailblazing political campaigner during the early years of the HIV epidemic, and above all a much-loved artist, Jarman’s death from an AIDS-related illness at the early age of 52 deprived the arts world of one of its most compelling talents.

Other films include: The Angelic Conversation (1985), The Last of England (1987), War Requiem (1989), Blue (1993)

The original of this portrait is for sale here.

Or you can get prints, T-shirts and other merch featuring this image here:

For more portraits of LGBTQ+ History Month heroes, please visit my gallery here.

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Barnaby Edwards - Albrecht Dürer

(black and white ink on toned paper, 2023)

Today’s LGBTQ+ hero is the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528). His letters to his friend (and possible partner) Willibald Pirckheimer reveal his dual lust for both serving girls and soldiers.

For more of Barnaby's drawings and paintings of LGBTQ+ heroes, click here.

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Barnaby Edwards - Lil Nas X

(acrylic on toned card, 2023)

Lil Nas X (born 1999) is an American rapper, singer and songwriter who hit the big time in 2019 when his smash hit single ‘Old Town Road’ spent 19 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, making it the longest-running number one in the chart’s 60-year history. During the song’s residency at the top, Lil Nas X shook the music industry by coming out as gay, the first artist to do so while at number one. The homophobic backlash which predictably followed, on social media and from within the country music and hip hop communities, is something he has confronted with warmth, wit and good-natured defiance: responding to a homophobic rapper’s rant about a pink outfit he wore to the Grammy Awards, he simply tweeted ‘Damn I look good in that pic.’ His provocative videos for subsequent hit singles like ‘Montero’ and ‘Industry Baby’ are acts of queer power in the grand tradition of George Michael’s legendary ‘Outside’ video, and it is their cinematic sweep that gives Lil Nas X his place in this exhibition.

The original of this portrait is for sale here.

For more portraits of LGBTQ+ History Month heroes, please visit my gallery here.

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Barnaby Edwards - Patricia Highsmith

(blood-red ink on paper, 2023)

Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) was an American novelist and short-story writer noted for her psychological thrillers, including five books featuring her most celebrated creation, the con-man and serial killer Tom Ripley. A troubled person and in many respects a problematic human being, Highsmith was nonetheless a trailblazer in the field of queer literature. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train (1950) features a subtext of suppressed homosexual attraction which became central to the famous film adaptation directed by Alfred Hitchcock the following year. Homoeroticism is also a key ingredient in her first Ripley novel, 1955’s The Talented Mr Ripley, which has been adapted for the cinema several times: most famously as René Clément’s Plein Soleil(1960), starring Alain Delon, and Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr Ripley (1999), featuring Matt Damon in the title role. Always refreshingly frank about her sexuality, Patricia Highsmith once remarked that ‘The only difference between us and heterosexuals is what we do in bed.’ As early as 1952, she pseudonymously published The Price of Salt, regarded as the first lesbian novel to have a happy ending. Five years before her death, the novel was reissued under Highsmith’s own name and with the new title Carol. In 2015 Todd Haynes directed a film adaptation starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.

Other film adaptations of Highsmith’s work include: Ripley’s Game (2002), The Cry of the Owl (2009), The Two Faces of January (2014), A Kind of Murder (2016)

The original of this portrait is for sale here.

Or you can get prints, T-shirts and other merch featuring this image here.

For more portraits of LGBTQ+ History Month heroes, please visit my gallery here.

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Barnaby Edwards - Mary Renault

(coloured pencil on paper, 2023)

Today’s LGBTQ+ hero is author Mary Renault (1905-83). She wrote same-sex romances set in Ancient Greece and was in a relationship with her partner, Julie, for 50 years until her death.

For more of Barnaby's drawings and paintings of LGBTQ+ heroes, click here.

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Barnaby Edwards - Nyankh-khnum and Khnum-hotep

(gouache on papyrus, 2023)

Today’s LGBTQ+ heroes are Nyankh-khnum and Khnum-hotep (5th Dynasty, c.2494–2345 BCE). They are believed to be one of the earliest known same-sex couples. Nose-to-nose denotes kissing in Ancient Egyptian art. They were buried together by their families.

For more of Barnaby's drawings and paintings of LGBTQ+ heroes, click here.

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Barnaby Edwards - Troye Sivan

(felt tip on paper, 2023)

Today’s LGBTQ+ hero is the singer-songwriter, actor and YouTuber Troye Sivan (1995-present). He came out at 18 and has been an inspiration to young LGBTQ+ people across the world ever since.

For more of Barnaby's drawings and paintings of LGBTQ+ heroes, click here.

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Barnaby Edwards - Jeanette Winterson

(ink and Conté pastel on paper, 2023)

Today’s LGBTQ+ hero is the author Jeanette Winterson (1959-present), a glorious writer. Her first book, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, is a semi-autobiographical account of a teenage lesbian - and hasn’t aged a day.

For more of Barnaby's drawings and paintings of LGBTQ+ heroes, click here.

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Barnaby Edwards - E.M. Forster

(8B pencil on paper, 2023)

Today’s LGBTQ+ hero is the author E.M. Forster (1879-70), one of my favourite writers. He skewered the hypocrisy, racism and stupidity of the British Empire in the early 20th-century. He also wrote one the best gay love stories of all time: Maurice. It was so autobiographical, it wasn’t published until after his death.

For more of Barnaby's drawings and paintings of LGBTQ+ heroes, click here.

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Barnaby Edwards - Sappho

(acrylic on toned card, 2023)

Today’s LGBTQ+ hero is the Greek lyric poet Sappho (c.630-570 BCE). Described as the Tenth Muse, she wrote poems (almost all have been lost) about the love for women and she lived on the island of Lesbos - yup, that’s the derivation of ‘lesbian’. She also ran a shipping business. Go, Sappho.

For more of Barnaby's drawings and paintings of LGBTQ+ heroes, click here.

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Barnaby Edwards - Jan Morris

(Conté stick on toned card, 2023)

Today’s LGBTQ+ hero is historian, author and travel writer Jan Morris (1926-2020). She began transitioning in 1964 and wrote one of the great trans autobiographies, Conundrum (1972). Oh, and she was also part of the famous 1953 Everest expedition.

For more of Barnaby's drawings and paintings of LGBTQ+ heroes, click here.

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Barnaby Edwards - BD Wong

(monochrome acrylic on toned paper, 2023)

Today’s LGBTQ+ hero is BD Wong (1960-present), a multi award-winning US actor and LGBTQ+ rights activist. He’s possibly best known for playing Dr Henry Wu in the Jurassic Park franchise.

For more of Barnaby's drawings and paintings of LGBTQ+ heroes, click here.

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Barnaby Edwards - Cheryl Dunye

(graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 2023)

Today’s LGBTQ+ hero is Cheryl Dunye (1966-present), a Liberian-American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and actress. She is famed as the first out Black lesbian ever to direct a feature film - her 1996 movie The Watermelon Woman. And she looks great in hats!

For more of Barnaby's drawings and paintings of LGBTQ+ heroes, click here.

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Barnaby Edwards - Wendy Carlos

(ink pen on paper)

Today’s LGBTQ+ hero is Wendy Carlos (1939-present), the multiple Grammy-winning US electronic musician famous for her groundbreaking film scores for A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Tron. She’s been a passionate advocate for trans rights since the late 1960s. She also loves cats. 😻

For more of Barnaby's drawings and paintings of LGBTQ+ heroes, click here.

Prints of this are available from RedBubble

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Barnaby Edwards - Pedro Almodóvar

(charcoal on paper, 2023)

To kick off LGBT+ History Month, here’s a portrait of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar (1949-present), the man responsible for some of the most groundbreaking and beautiful LGBT+ films of the last 40 years.

For more of Barnaby's drawings and paintings of LGBTQ+ heroes, click here.

Prints of this are available from RedBubble

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Barnaby Edwards - Testing the Water

(coloured pencils on paper, 2023)

For more of Barnaby's drawings and paintings of nudes, click here.