BDSM Art: Carnavale De Sade Poster

The show’s over, it’s not even Passive Arts anymore. We now call it Sanctuary LAX.

This BDSM art poster was one of those moments when several great fronts converged at once. Arcane from Club Iniquity, and Joey Strange had got together to create a high-volume combination of metal concert, performance art, and kinky play party called Carnavale De Sade. Held at Passive Arts on a seasonal basis, Joey Strange and The Horse You Rode in on would rock out and feature on stage hook suspensions (did we mention this is the same friend that put hooks through his back, was hung from a helicopter, and flown over the Hollywood sign for Ripley’s Believe It or Not?) along with other high profile acts. Arcane provided the mailing list and his own kinky entertainment.

As the night progressed, attendees would go into the other rooms and do perverted things to each other. It was a beautiful thing. As the shows progressed, Joey recruited Sherry and I to help with publicity. It  was before we officially formed Black and Blue Media, and helped give us our foundation.

I was jazzed, and had been going through a big book on 60’s poster art. I love psychedelic concert posters, and something spoke to me about this event. So one night, I sat down and put this together on 11×14 bristol. I then printed out a huge poster sized version on a blueprint machine.

It was a hit, the guys and the club were fighting over who would get the poster. I made a deal. I whipped up more posters, and framed the original for the guys. They loved it. There were two versions. What you’re seeing is for the final show. Joey and Arcane called it a night on May 7th with a huge finale, blowing out the venue and eardrums for miles around. LAX, right next door, probably called asking if they could turn the volume down. Sherry and I enjoyed the concert tucked comfortably in the Bastille room surrounded by cinder block walls and iron.