Pacifico Silano: Vintage Gay Erotica Into Art

His journey began at the School of Visual Arts, where he started incorporating these materials into his art. Inspired by the loss of his uncle to the AIDS epidemic, Silano’s work is deeply personal, addressing the erasure of gay men, particularly those lost by the pandemic.

Silano sources his materials primarily online. His selection process is meticulous, revisiting old magazines to discover new potential in images he previously overlooked. By using images from these magazines, Silano memorializes the lost generation and critiques society’s tendency to overlook gay history.

The creation of Silano’s collages is both a mental and physical process. As he flips through the pages, he mentally matches images, layering them until he is satisfied with the composition. This intricate arrangement is then photographed, capturing additional shadows and lighting that scanning would erase. These photographs are meticulously organized into thematic archives like "Western landscapes," "cowboys," and "pools."

Using Photoshop, he crops and zooms, focusing on details like staple marks or fraying paper fibers. This examination emphasizes the physicality of the pages, transforming the original images into new, meaningful compositions. The final image, often printed on vinyl and framed, represents the third incarnation of the original material.

Recently, Silano has expanded his practice to include larger prints, some as tall as he is. This shift to a larger format recontextualizes the images, giving them a monumental presence that contrasts with their original, disposable nature. The original photographs, meant for carnal pleasure, are reimagined as enduring artworks. Silano delights in uncovering and magnifying quiet moments within these images, infusing them with metaphor and new significance.

Silano’s work is not about covering up nudity. Instead, his collages seek to transcend the explicitness of their source material, aiming to find deeper meanings beyond mere eroticism. By appropriating and transforming these images, Silano invites viewers to reconsider their contemporary relevance and find new connections.

While his work has faced censorship due to its queer and pornographic contexts, Pacifico Silano transforms vintage gay erotic imagery into profound artworks that celebrate the complexities of gay male identity and history.

Artist's Artwork: