Jeff Stryker
Words and handkerchief by James Stafford and James Green
Quentin Crisp, having spent his sexual life searching for the ideal, faultlessly masculine stud, eventually concluded that ‘There is no great dark man.’ Well, if only poor Quentin had been watching Catalina porn in the 80s and copped an eyeful of Jeff Stryker! Hey presto, rampant masculinity and club cock to boot.
Also, we got stoned with Jeff when he visited London in the Noughties. He was absolutely lovely, still had amazing abs into his forties, a sweet, gorgeous, gravelly-voiced cowpoke kinda guy – but don't touch his hair!
Jeff Stryker made his name as a porn star in the 1980s, and made history when he sued for the intellectual property rights to a popular dildo modelled on his penis.
This artwork is part of The Wall of Sexual Heroes, a collaborative textile art piece featured in our previous exhibition at the Horse Hospital (2022) and Bow Arts Lab (2023). All embroidered, printed and appliquėd handkerchiefs celebrate unsung heroes of sexual emancipation, activism and innovation.
The Wall is an organic work. If you would like to contribute, please get in touch with The Keeper.
More tales of Sexual Heroes>
KEEPER’S NOTES: This bona varding, swishing Molly will not fail to turn your oysters up.
A cross-dressing milkman who regularly visited the city's many molly houses, Gabriel was convicted and hanged for the act of sodomy in 1726. Gabriel’s close friend, the potter Thomas Tyler, created the original work in tribute to his life and spirit.
The figurine of Gabriel is now lovingly remade by third-generation makers in Stoke-on-Trent. It portrays Gabriel in classic Rococo style, imitating delicate pastoral designs favoured by the famous Bow Porcelain Factory. Assembled by hand and decorated using traditional techniques, each piece is unique in its finishing.
*Limited edition
READ GABRIEL'S STORY