Exploring Beauty and Hell With Gay Artists SUPERM

Above: SUPERM by Mitchell McCormack

Slava Mogutin and Brian Kenny (the two men behind SUPERM) are one of of the most  inspirational and influential power couples in the art world. Their latest project, "BEAUTY and HELL," a two part exhibition at Envoy Enterprises New York, finds inspiration in the poems of Arthur Rimbaud. Part One, "BEAUTY" opened last Thursday and Part Two, "HELL" opens today.

The Advocate: How did you guys meet?
Slava: Brian picked me up outside of Opaline, a now defunct club on Avenue C in the East Village. It was the night when I broke up with my ex, so I was really upset and needed a drink or two.

Brian: I was outside on the sidewalk smoking a cigarette and saw this sexy Eastern European looking guy standing not too far away. I thought he was straight as the crowd outside was mixed, but then I noticed he went back inside the bar, so I followed him in, introduced myself and asked if he wanted to dance. He said ‘sure’ and we hit the dance floor. He was a terrible dancer, which just turned me on even more, and soon after we left together and had really hot sex all night long. I still had no idea Slava was a great artist. The next day he asked me something really strange. He said, “I’m gonna do a shoot with my skinhead friend, who’s gonna be lying on the sidewalk wearing diapers and boots and he’ll be covered in broken eggs, but I need someone to throw the eggs at him. Will you do this?” At the time, it was the most bizarre thing someone had ever asked me to do, so of course, I immediately said “Yes!” Little did I know that his “friend” was, in fact, his ex-boyfriend.

Slava: I guess, it’s fair to say that we’ve been making art together literarally from the day we met! Besides starring in the film, Brian helped me with the editing and the soundtrack and we included it in our first shows together in Moscow and Berlin a few months later.