Daddy did an Art Show (2025)

In february 2025, in Montréal, I did my first art show. I have drawned all my life but never let the kid outside. As the subject was « Daddies » , it felt like going naked in public … the show was a party and made me grow more than I thought.

Daddy is a Pop Star

My first show was an expercience. Not only did it showed my drawings but it showed a part of me I rarely show : my intrinsect love for daddies.

Pop Art is the Art of Parties. It is colorful, big and easy. Big happy smiles to clash with the darkness of bars and clubs. My technique was, also, very Warholian, I outlined the « contour »,  photocopied them and went to « Le Stud », on the day of the expo, to color the outlines with pencils and carton. Did I mention its first showcase was at Le Stud. I went on the day of the first expo!

As the Stud is quite a dark place, it feels weird in retrospective that it inspired so much color.

I wanted the places to inspire the art. I, finally, went to the printer and photocopied them again to get that « mat » finish. As a magician in front of his public, the staff and owner of Le Stud were AROUND me, staring while I was being an artist. It is safe to say the energy was high and the pressure was on! I don’t think I would do that again, nevertheless it gave a really interesting and colourful touch to the « oeuvres ». It is not only a piece of art but also a moment!

What the Art means

The subject of the show was love : my hidden love for Daddies and the path of my self discovery throughout my partying in Montréal. As an artist, I tend to do art and then find the signification after. It is a way to free myself from the shame of what I love. It made it clear how gay parties were a gateway for me to find love. The discovery of the « Bar Le Stud » was instrumental in my romantic history at least two times. It is a place I feel safe to show my « true colors ».

What I learned

As every important challenge becomes a opportunity to evolve, I learned a lot throughout this exposition. First thing is that gay bars were important for me to connect with pals. I did not realize how important these places were until they popped in my drawings with so much passion.

I am not the only one

After revealing my drawing at Le Stud, some things just became so clear : so many guys love daddies. It was easy to see them structed by the content of the show. They loved it from a very peculiar distance, like if it was a shame to show a childish devotion to something they loved. Even worst, when they were with their daddies, they would stay completely silent but almost hypnotized by the content and the « tales » behind each piece. I know that because I have lived it myself.

Hiding is worst than judgement

The first showcase of this expo was at Le Stud, Montreal’s finest daddie-bear bar. I was dreading the humiliation, as a tough man, of showing this vulnerable very candid part of me to the rest of the world. I felt naked to eventually realize…. everybody was naked : everyone was here to find their daddy. The first startled boys, soon, started to appear. They would tell me, under their breath, how they much liked it confused about their own feelings. Yet, as insecure boys, they would wait for daddy to buy them their toys……aahhhh boys and toys….

Daddies own the Parties

Meaningful events always make you evolve. I gained a certain lucidity throughout this adventure : my own dad, my perspective on art and the state of gay world. Two majors revelations happened to me :

They don’t care about the future of the culture

As a boy, you always dream that daddy is going to save you…. In reality, your dad is not your savior nor your daddy should be. Expanded to a social lucidity where millennials grew up to believe boomers would save them, it hurts. Furthermore, the lucidity of seeing all these young boys waiting to be approved for something that is never going to happen hits. Since part of my expo was on the Stud and happened to be a tribute to this institution, I became quite lucid about the disinterest to engage in any cultural statement by the gay patriarchy. I wish Rupaul had something to say about men…I realized than more than ever, bars now, were only a waiting spot for your money to be spent : a chance to socialize in a very loud space where deepness is not really there….

If, us, millennials, want to make it happen culturally, we will have to become the « bad guys ». The Boomers had to « imagine all the people » yet they could buy a house and own a shop and then denied us our right to have a place in the world with their « good principles ». We will have to say « no » and start acting as a squad.

You need a band

A great artist, Ozwazo, told me : it is when you see the 4 paintings together that you get the power of your art. This became a metaphor as I was looking at the 4 bears painted on the little table. If I am only one of them, who are the other ones. Indeed, I have talented friends, yet, we never team up for anything. Why is so? I realize things can happen if I get 3 teammates. But, Western is so individualistic, it might be hard. We have lost the belief that we can make it with our own pals.

The Punk Age is about to come!

See my article « Punk is Trump » to understand how fast the world is going to change. Not only, things are crumbling but it is clearer than ever that, as millennials, we will have to force our way in….the culture. And, I am afraid, there will be victims….sitting at the top of the food chain. I have tried for so long to do anything new in the places I would go out to, yet, apart from New York and the NYC ROCKBAR, it was always a no.

The punk mentality comes a rejection of the old, of the used and of the peace. The future holds very cut-throat parties used as statements! And New York is about to self destruct.

Can’t wait to go back and hang out with the bored kids looking for a fix…..looking for the Man.

In conclusion

Doing an art show on daddies really changed me in a a very surprising way. I became free of my lust for their approval and yet fully aware and unashamed of my love for their mind and bodies. It is with great pleasure I have entered my « Multi-Papas » era (multi-daddies) where a boy grows up in a teenager way to become an adult and who he is. I still love them and will probably always will but I am just not completely bound to them like I was before. Surprisingly the before part was also accompanied with shame that prevented me from actually enjoying those relationships. Plus, it made me reconcile with my own dad!

(picture of me and my dad)

Do art event if it sucks!