The Bob Mizer Foundation relaunched Mizer's groundbreaking male physique mag, Physique Pictorial, last fall to rave reviews. We're hard at work on our spring issue, which will be packed fuller than a 1950s-era posing strap -- chock full of physique images from both yesteryear and today. Here's what you'll find in issue 44:
Photographer David Hurles is known for the rough-and-tumble street trade types who sneered in front of the camera, middle fingers extended and a cigarette clenched in their teeth. Hurles' men, who were staples of 1970s and '80s male physique photography, were easily recognizable by their wild, raw appearance -- unkempt hair, tattoos on full display, with large muscles and an even larger attitude. Our spring issue takes a look at some of Hurles' lesser-known photos in several photo spreads. Think you've seen the best of his work? Trust us -- you've not even scratched the greasy surface.
Another vintage Mizer favorite, Richard 'Dick' DuBois, is front and center in issue 44. Known for his youthful good looks, DuBois was a mainstay on the muscle mag scene of the 1950s and '60s, having posed for publications touting men of robust health and clean living. DuBois, who was crowned Mr. USA in 1957, also might be known to mainstream audiences as a muscle man in Mae West's stage act; he also graced the Silver Screen in the musical "Athena." Like the greek goddess herself, DuBois' godlike appearance will tantalize you in some rarely-seen images this time around.
Though we can't get enough of those vintage models, we especially enjoy showcasing the work of contemporary photographers in Physique Pictorial, too. Feast your eyes on the work of artists such as Lucas Murnaghan and Ross Collab, whose lenses have captured musclebound hunks at play and in moments of reflection. Collab's work (www.rosscollab.com) spans both male and female subjects, and he works in both digital and 35mm formats alike. Murnaghan, (www.lucasmurnaghan.com), meanwhile, is most at home in an aquatic setting, with models gracefully gliding through pools of blue. Catch both photographers' works in full color in issue 44.
Other contemporary photographers profiled in issue 44 will include Steven Menendez and Waynn Low. Menendez described himself as an "off-the-beaten-path traveler to nature spots where he can be naked and free." The New York-based photographer's latest work, "Return to Nature," has been shown in galleries from New York City to Fire Island to Provincetown. Low, meanwhile, counts Mizer's outdoor, fantasy-filled tableaux among his artistic inspirations, as well as James Bidgood's 1971 arthouse film "Pink Narcissus." View the works of Menendez at www.stevenmenendez.com and the works of Low at www.waynnimages.com/artworks.
AMG model Leonard Chambers' life was cut short by an LAPD officer's bullet in 1956. Keith Foote's "Murder Mystery: A Mizer Superstar Tragedy" traces the case of how one police officer with an itchy trigger finger gunned down the handsome body builder as he was apprehended on failure to appear charges. Foote's rich and descriptive writing style turns back the clock by 60 years, to a time when the words 'police brutality' had yet to saturate media headlines. Follow the case in vivid detail in Foote's feature, and read part of Mizer's scathing editorial in the summer 1956 issue of Physique Pictorial.