I Heart Boy

With an erotic softness and quiet confidence, the young,?fully-nude subjects in I Heart Boy?exhibit a willingness to be?celebrated by all for their beauty and openness. Posing in?the intimacy of their own homes, often in studio apartments?in Manhattan’s East Village and Lower East Side, and Williamsburg and Downtown Brooklyn, lanky,?hairless bodies are posed sensually against the minimalist?backgrounds of naturally lit rooms with sparse furnishings.

It's an aesthetic?with nods to Larry Clark and the 80s underground music?scene, and appreciated by the likes of designer Hedi?Slimane, American Apparel, and the most popular indie?bands from New York, L.A., London, Paris, and Berlin.?Yatrofsky’s waif-like men—merely boys just a few years ago,?bordering on androgynous, with an occasional tattoo and a?bit of punk swagger to match their youthful naivete—hardly?resemble even the shadow of the beefcake of generations?past. This is the undressed and carefree look of today’s?urban trendsetter—whose style trickles out of the young,?creative circles in cities, only to be copied elsewhere?tomorrow.

With each photograph, these sexually charged images of?male bodies invite the viewer to dwell upon the welcome?tenderness of warm skin. Ultimately I Heart Boy is a series of?nudity in the purest sense; of being simply bared as human?before the world.

\J. Yatrofsky is a New York-based photographer, known?for work with naked men. Raised in Las Vegas, Yatrofsky?began by photographing male go-go dancers in nude strip clubs,?and has photographically explored people’s bodies ever?since. Yatrofsky is a regular contributor to EastVillageBoys.?com and founder of iheartboy.com, a website dedicated to?picturing young men in provocative ways. Yatrofsky’s artwork?also includes performance projects in which audiences are?confronted with nudity and sexual politics, and videos that?explore beauty, objectification, and perception. Yatrofsky?received an MFA from Parsons The New School For Design.

Weston Bingham co-founded East Village?Boys, an independent, New York-based online publication, in?2008. EastVillageBoys.com is dedicated to filling some of?the holes in the codified, mainstream representation of gay?culture. Their carefully curated features and collaborations?include the best emerging talent from around the world as?well as the occasional notorious troublemaker, and include?photographers, artists, musicians, performers, fashion?designers, writers, and label-eschewing makers and doers?of things.