Bart Drost

In 1979 Bart Drost (he is then 24) bought the special edition 'boys are boys II' in a sex shop in Amsterdam. More than a hundred innocent black-and-white photos of stark naked boys between the ages of 15 and 18, brought together in a sturdy book. As a student at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Drost sets out to get these boys out of the raunchy environment of the sex industry and to pay them tribute through the arts. The photos from 'boys are boys II' and from other books, booklets and magazines will form a recurring element in his art.

And then naturally - as is often the case with his art projects - one thing leads to another...

Bart Drost completed his project 'boys are boys (again)' in May 2021 and presented it as a test set up to a select group in his studio.

The project consists of several parts:

- a reading table with six stools

- five hand-bound books and one edition of 'boys are boys II', published in 1972 by BOOK ADVENTURES

- a wall installation with 143 wooden objects in 143 colours

- a poster 'boys are boys'

- a display case containing 49 wooden objects and a bound booklet 'the collection'

- a panel with 9 playables

- a box with the 143 wooden objects in miniature version

It is easily said "I'm going to paint the pictures gold". Sublimation at its best. Until you realize that the original image in the photos will disappear when you cover the naked boys' bodies and that this procedure is irreversible.

Drost therefore decided as a first step to draw freehand all photo's from the book 'boys are boys II' one by one - drawings -, then transfer the photos one by one in line on transparent paper - lines - , then convert the photos into small stories in English, Dutch and German - words -. He also provided the :boys in the photos with pants - pants - and finally he decided to name all the models - names -  . All in all, 5 books have been added to the book 'boys are boys':

A table model display cabinet, containing 49 small wooden objects.

What are they? Are they characters? Symbols maybe?

They are the noble parts of boys from the line drawings that Drost distilled from the black-and-white photos of the book 'boys are boys II'.

A weird collection wonderful shapes in various types of wood.

All objects have been archived and brought together in a small book entitled 'the collection'.

That's what happens with the projects of Drost. However serious and serious the theme may be, a joke is part of it.

From the book 'boys are boys' he chose 9 models who can be played with...

Finally, Bart Drost painted all the photos from the book 'boys are boys' gold manually, during the first months of 2021, every Tuesday from 10.30 to 11.30. 'Painting the boy - part 2', referring to the project 'painting the boy'  he did during his studies at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy on the boy F, his model at that time,