Photographer Jeremy Kost is always surrounded by major male beauty both at parties (search him on BFA.com to see who he brings to parties) and in the sexy images he creates. He recently launched Tangible, a project with Spreesy that enables collectors to buy images off his wildly popular Instagram account for only $100 each. I chatted with Jeremy at the launch of Tangible at the EDITION Hotel where male models just hung out all over the penthouse…in their underwear.
Tangible is a cool project—art should be for everyone.
It really happened in the months following the release of Fractured. As time passed, I’ve realized that a number of ‘fans’ haven’t been able to afford my work, even at it’s lowest levels. I’d been giving this a lot of thought and in an effort to democratize my art practice and allow those fans the opportunity to own unique works at a super affordable price. I honestly never really thought about my Instagram images as artworks, but realized that they were truly, composed, resolved images with a specific voice and purpose, so why not put them in the world in a more formal way.
The images are selling like hotcakes…or beefcakes.
We sold over 2/3 of them on Tuesday! I honestly had no idea how it would go over. I was super, super happy with the print quality that the Lower East Side Printshop delivered. I think they’re beautiful. Each image is considered unique with two artists’ proofs. AP1 goes to a mega archive that I’ll keep for myself, and AP2 goes to the subject in the image.
What do you look for in a model besides a pretty face and a banging bod?
Well, my work with men has always been about a deeper narrative of body identity (I was 250 pounds growing up closeted in Texas), facade, presentation, and so forth. The guys tend to be in this framework of people I secretly pined after when growing up, whilst I was in denial to myself even. I find subjects through a variety of places: agencies, of course, often through Instagram, and sometimes just street casting. My work has always been less about how famous a model is and if that person is right for my work as an artist. Fractured had a number of really recognizable faces, but in the end, a lot had really never been seen before.
