“Bob Newark (1945) grew up in a poor Jewish environment in 1950s Brooklyn. He turned into a hippie in California and left for Amsterdam in 1970 with his boyfriend Bear. After the gay seventies AIDS hit hard. He had a lucky escape and became Master Bob for many a young man. He is now 76 and in fragile health.
Mark Schalken (1967) is an artist, designer and activist. He left the polder and has lived in Amsterdam since his student days, where he became friends with Bob at the gay self-defense club Tijgertje. During the lull of the lockdowns, he regularly cycled to Brouwersgracht to draw Bob, in search of expressive and intimate images of a flamboyant man.”
A catalogue published on the occasion of an exhibition at Galerie de Hooffzaak, with intimate and expressive portraits of Bob in various poses and situations, either at work or in repose, dressed or undressed, but always completely at ease. These drawings are accompanied by a text based on an interview conducted by M.S. in which Bob talks about the momentous events in his life; finding love and acceptance amidst widespread oppression, the impact of the AIDS epidemic and the resulting loss of many close friends, and becoming a mentor to younger gays. A loving portrait of a friend that simultaneously pays tribute to LGBT history in Amsterdam and its elders.
Text in Dutch and English, stapled, 42 x 29,5 cm, 32 pages, signed, Amsterdam 2022
