Rick Castro and Sam Sweet present a new publication of images about hustlers on Santa Monica Boulevard, circa 1986-1998. A panel discussion will be followed by Q&A and book signing.
Rick Castro is a photographer, filmmaker, and writer who has lived and worked in Los Angeles for his entire life. He made his first image in 1986 and from then on immersed himself in homoerotic fetish photography. In 1996, he directed Hustler White, starring Bruce LaBruce. From 2005 to 2017, he owned and operated Antebellum Gallery, the only fetish art gallery in America. Over the course of his career, he has created portraits of Gore Vidal, Kenneth Anger, Ron Athey, Alice Bag, Peter Berlin, Michele Lamy, and the 14th Dalai Lama. He has collaborated on fashion editorial for Christian Dior Homme, Cartier, and Rick Owens. His publications include Castro (DPR Press, 1990) and 13 Years of Bondage: The Photography of Rick Castro (Fluxion Editions, 2004). He regularly posts new imagery at instagram.com/castrrick.
Sam Sweet is a writer, publisher, and archivist specializing in lost heroes and miniatures histories of Los Angeles. He is best known as the author of ALL NIGHT MENU, a collection of L.A. microhistories spread across five booklets. Each volume contains eight addresses and each address connects to a different time period, subculture, and section of the city. ALL NIGHT MENU has since grown to encompass visual publications, a photographic archive, and an oral history series. His work can be found at samsweet.info and allnight-menu.com.
