Artist Spotlight: Didio

Methinks we may be taking ourselves just a tad too seriously. Are these guys examples of the boy nextdoor? Not by a long shot. But, I enjoy looking at them nevertheless. And (gasp!) I'm not so deluded as to believe that I will ever achieve their beauty, or that I should try to. I'm 50 and chubby. I'm also a very talented in ways that have nothing to do with my physique. I don't look at these pics because I want to become these guys, and I don't feel inferior because I'm not as physically attractive. I have my strengths, and they have theirs. And...I like to look at theirs.

@James, excellent point about this being the photographer's perspective, his views on the world, his interest in men of a certain type. @Matt, would you be interested in a portfolio of normal looking men, gay or straight, old or young? Seems to me that you don't need a photo essay for that. You could go to the supermarket for that.

Just to let you know that the photos are not from ordinary real men of Brazil. Brazil is such a mixture people.. white, native, europeans, blacks, biracial, diffrent nacionalities etc. The photos are beautiful.. no doubts or questions about it. The photographer is realy talented, but he needs to travel inside of Brazil and he will discover men with such beauty that you can not find anywhere in the world.

There is no new ground being broken here. Its down the same old path in photos of gay men. (Are these guys gay?) These are not average or normal guys. These are typical model types. The photos are fine photos of models...nothing more. But, if you want to be an artist of note...take REAL average guys and make great sexy pictures out of them. It can be done. Average guys get laid all the time, so there must be something sexy about them. Explore THAT and you'll have photos to really look at. Personally, Id look at these once and never pic up a book of them again. Same old, same old....Try again.

This is ridiculous, in 31 photographs of supposedly everyday men from Brazil, not a single black man appeared. Brazil is the country with the 2nd highest amount of individuals with African ancestry-2nd only to Nigeria. This means that it even beats out all African nations, except for one, for highest black population! So why are these men all white?

It amazes me that Brazil is so much like Europe, I thought there were men of other colors in Brazil. Quite interesting.

I think that there is some ignorance here, lack interpret what the photographer says ... saying normal man, but this is referring to straight men for inspiration to photograph their models ... You're getting crazy and neurotic and think everything is related to sex, be straight or gay ... normal is certainly in these terms ...

James: Good point. I agree the Advocate is (or has been) a well respected gay publication. However in an age of dwindling sales, gay publications now need to align themselves with the culturally dominant representation of 'gay' (which currently seems to consist of a muscularised 'heternormative' ideal). Unfotunately, this means the rest of us are slowly losing our voice. If gay = the type of men depicted in those images, are the rest of us still gay? Or are we something else???

Matt, I completely agree. We are another cohort of the ever-popularized anorexic teenage girl trying to live up to an imaginary, unrealistic standard, only we exist under the guise of social, smily-faced, often well-dressed gay men. If this guy wants a real picture of a gay man's life, he should venture elsewhere besides the West Hollywood of South America. Hell, come check me out in my sweats one day. THAT's real!

These men are anything but "normal." If the average man had six-pack abs and minimal body fat, I'd agree. This is clearly not the case. Normalizing these unattainable body ideals is detrimental to gay men everywhere.