Rick Castro

Rick Castro
Born (1958-07-20) July 20, 1958
Los Angeles, California
Known forPhotography

Rick Castro (July 20, 1958) is an American photographer, motion picture director, stylist, curator and writer whose work focuses on BDSM, fetish, and desire.[1]

Early life

Castro began work as a fashion stylist and clothing designer. Over the years, he worked for as a stylist on fashion shoots and designed clothing for Marlene Stewart, Bette Midler, David Bowie, Herb Ritts,[2] the style agency Cloutier, George Hurrell, Interview magazine, GQ magazine, Vanity Fair magazine, Rolling Stone magazine, I-D magazine, Tina Turner and John Leguizamo. Castro was the designer for Michèle Lamy's first menswear collection, Lamy Men from 1986–1989.[3][4]

Photographic career

In 1986, photographer Joel-Peter Witkin took him to purchase his first camera in Albuquerque. Working under Joel as the model scout, wardrobe stylist and photography assistant, Rick helped create a number of Joel's iconic photographs, such as Leda, Los Angeles (1986) featuring The Goddess Bunny. [5][6] In 1988, at the age of 30, Castro became a freelance photographer, and his work appeared in the Los Angeles gay news magazines Frontiers,[7]Drummer[8] and the national gay news magazine, The Advocate.[9][10][11]

His 1994 short film of hustler interviews inspired Bruce LaBruce to film Hustler White with Tony Ward. Castro collaborated on the film as writer and co-director with LaBruce.[12] In 1998, he appeared in Jochen Hick's adult documentary Sex/Life in L.A. about the sex lives of the filmmakers in the Los Angeles adult film industry.[13][14] Castro has directed a number of other short films and a documentary, Plushies & Furries, (2001) for MTV.[15]

Castro's first gallery opened at Michèle Lamy's Les Deux Cafés in 2002, with the first furry themed art show. In 2005, Castro founded Antebellum Gallery[16] the only fetish art gallery in the United States, which he ran from 2005 to 2017.

Castro shot the F/W look book 2014 for his former boyfriend, designer Rick Owens using his 93-year-old father Al Castro as the featured model.[17]

Castro was interviewed by Owens for the May 2019 issue of Autre Magazine,[18] and featured in the historic first queer issue of Los Angeles Magazine, June 2019.[19] Castro is contributing photographer and writer for Another[20] and Anotherman Magazines UK.[21]

In 2024, Castro's photography were featured in Tom of Finland Art & Culture Festival at Halle am Berghain, Berlin,[22] and Vitam Picturarum (Life in Pictures) sponsored by WeHo Arts Festival, West Hollywood.[23]

"Rick Castro Forever"[24][25] was presented at Hollywood Forever Cemetery at the historic columbarium, October 5 through November 30, 2023. Castro's photography brought queer sensibility to Hollywood Forever.[26] As of February 2024, "Columbarium Continuum: by Rick Castro", is an ongoing unique museum hosted at Hollywood Forever.[27][28]

Critical Assessment

Castro's photography also stands squarely in the quasi-religious tradition of most BDSM photography. The art historian and critic Edward Lucie-Smith has pointed out that Castro's work is deeply rooted in religious art, especially Catholic art of the Baroque period. The believer, suffering for his beliefs, is mimicked by the gay man, suffering for his homosexuality. The ecstasy of martyrdom is mimicked by the ecstasy of sex. These themes were explored by the great Christian Baroque painters, and Castro's bondage photography—like most bondage photography—draws heavily on these paintings for its poses. [1]

Writer Mark Christopher Harvey notes that Castro's photography 'can be viewed as a long form of meditation—not only on the aesthetic virtues of bondage but also on the psyche of sex itself...' Harvey points to the 'wry humor' that is often missing in more commercially-inspired or less artistic BDSM photographs. [1]

Awards and Collections

In October 2015, Rick Castro received an Artist Lifetime Achievement award from the Tom of Finland Foundation.[29] Castro's work is collected by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, The Getty Institute and the Tom of Finland Foundation.[30]

Select Exhibitions

Group Exhibitions

  • Verzabert: Proud to be Proud, Semjon Contemporary, Berlin, 2026.
  • Phallus :: Fascinum :: Fascism, The Box, Los Angeles, 2025.
  • Queer Lens: A History of Photography, The Getty Center, Los Angeles, 2025.
  • Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, 2024.
  • Queer-ish: Photography and the LGTBQ+ Imaginary, Scripps College, Claremont, 2023. [31]
  • Rick Owens: Subhuman, Inhuman, Superhuman, La Triennale di Milano, 2017.
  • Furotica: It Ain't Exactly Bambi, Track 16 Gallery, Los Angeles, 2003.

Solo Exhibitions

  • Columbarium Continuum: by Rick Castro, Hollywood Forever Cemetary, 2024 - ongoing.
  • Las Trece Vidas de Rick Castro, Galeria HGZ, Querétaro, Mexico, 2024. [32]
  • Rick Castro: Fetish King, Tom of Finland Foundation, Echo Park, 2019.
  • Rick Castro: Masterworks, Antebellum Gallery, Hollywood, 2014.

Installations

  • Collective Memory by Illuminate LA, Grand Park, Los Angeles, 2023. [33]

Published books

  • Sweet, Sam (2024-06-24). Rick Castro S/M Blvd: Photographs of Hustlers & Remembrances 1986-1999. All Night Menu. ISBN 978-0-9992682-1-6.[34]
  • Castro, Rick (2004). 13 Years of Bondage: The Photography of Rick Castro. Bondage Series. Los Angeles: Fluxion Editions. ISBN 0-9672129-4-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  • Castro, Rick; Olley, Michelle; Childers, Michael; Flynt, Robert (2000). Homme. Masterpieces of Erotic Photography (in German). Edition Olms. ISBN 3-283-00368-8.
  • Castro, Rick (1991). Castro. Bondage Series. Los Angeles: Tom of Finland Foundation. ISBN 1-879055-27-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)

He has also self-published the following hand-made books:

  • Zack 1991
  • The Bondage Book #1. 1992.
  • The Bondage Book #2. 1993
  • The Bondage Book #3. 1994
  • The Bondage Book #4. 1996

Filmed works

  • 1992: Automolove
  • 1993: Fertile Latoyah Jackson Video Magazine #1[35]
  • 1994: 45 Minutes of Bondage
  • 1994: Fertile Latoyah Jackson Video Magazine#2 The Kinky Issue
  • 1994: Three Faces of Women
  • 1996: Hustler White
  • 1997: Another 45 Minutes of Bondage
  • 2001: Plushies and Furries
  • 2013 ANTEBELLUM2013
  • 2014: ANTEBELLUM2014
  • 2015: ANTEBELLUM2015
  • 2016: ANTEBELLUM2016
  • 2017: The Dark Waters of Hotel Cecil

References

  1. 1 2 3 Castro, Rick (2004). 13 Years of Bondage: The Photography of Rick Castro. Bondage Series. Los Angeles: Fluxion Editions. ISBN 0-9672129-4-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  2. ↑ "Meet the Model Who Dated Madonna and Played Film's Most Famous Gigolo". 14 December 2018.
  3. ↑ Davis, Vaginal (March 15, 2000). "On the Feminization of Menswear". LA Weekly.
  4. ↑ "The Odd Couple". July 16, 2015.
  5. ↑ John, Author (2013-07-10). "Fetish photographer Rick Castro". { feuilleton }. Retrieved 2026-08-28. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  6. ↑ AnOther (2021-02-11). "A Tribute to Goddess Bunny, Hollywood's Disabled Trans Art Star". AnOther. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
  7. ↑ "GAY L.A. – Who Is Rick Castro?". The Pride LA. 2019-04-28. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  8. ↑ "Rick Castro | Fetish King". Flaunt Magazine.
  9. ↑ "Advocate Editor and Author Mark Thompson Remembered for Grasp of Gay Spirit". 2016-08-13. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  10. ↑ "Artist Spotlight: Rick Castro". Advocate. 2011-03-17. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  11. ↑ "10 Photos Prove Fetish King Rick Castro Fights Censorship". Advocate. 2019-03-29. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  12. ↑ "Who Runs the World?". www.artforum.com. 22 May 2017. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  13. ↑ H., W. "Film review: Sex Life in L.A." Time Out London. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  14. ↑ Terri Ginsberg and Andrea Mensch (Editors) A Companion to German Cinema, p. 330, at Google Books
  15. ↑ "Plushies & Furries".
  16. ↑ "In the Galleries: Black & White Pride". 2014-07-09. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  17. ↑ Dazed (2014-10-17). "Rick Castro: beyond the fetish frontier". Dazed. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  18. ↑ "RICK CASTRO — Interviewsmain Autre Magazine". Autre Magazine. 6 April 2019.
  19. ↑ Blum, Steven (2019-05-20). "These L.A. Artists Are Bringing Queer Perspectives Into Focus". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  20. ↑ "Rick Castro". Another Man Magazine. Archived from the original on October 18, 2022. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  21. ↑ "Rick Castro". Another Man Magazine. Archived from the original on October 14, 2022. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  22. ↑ "Tom of Finland Art & Culture Fair 2024 : Tom of Finland Foundation".
  23. ↑ "Vitam Picturarum (Life in Pictures) Exhibition".
  24. ↑ "Hollywood Forever is alive with photographer Rick Castro's work". November 2023.
  25. ↑ "10 Shows to See in Los Angeles in November". November 2023.
  26. ↑ "Hollywood Forever is alive with photographer Rick Castro's work". KCRW. 2023-11-01. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  27. ↑ "Exhibitions". Hollywood Forever. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  28. ↑ "Instagram".
  29. ↑ "ToFF Gallery : Tom of Finland Foundation".
  30. ↑ "ToFF Gallery". Tom of Finland Foundation. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  31. ↑ "Queer-ish - Ken Gonzales-Day". 2016-11-11. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
  32. ↑ "Las Trece Vidas de Rick Castro". Artsy. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
  33. ↑ "Illuminate LA's Collective Memory Installation". LA County Department of Arts and Culture. 2023-02-08. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
  34. ↑ "Cruising Santa Monica Boulevard with the fetish photographer who shot L.A.'s male hustlers". Los Angeles Times. 7 September 2023.
  35. ↑ Lecaro, Lina (2019-09-06). "Event Pick: Vaginal Davis on Video in Fertile La Toyah Jackson: Volume 1". LA Weekly. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
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