My real title, I feel, should read. Joshua Darling: conduit, or bridge. I am the product of, and feel it is my destiny in life to to take social, cultural and artistic threads and offer to and facilitate in the rewiring with other pulsing, electric entities. In my long line of occupations ( starting from age 11 blacksmith’s attendant, strawberry picker, carpenter, sailor, actor, director, dating coach (!) photographer, filmmaker) I spent some time as a bartender. I paid my way through school crafting cocktails from a bygone era in retro Martini bars and earned the title Mixologist. While I hated slinging drinks (the Prince of Saudi Arabia tips 2K, btw and Prince Charles, nothing), I’ve  thought the title was appropriate to me in many ways.

It started early, when I myself was the new ingredient thrown into new situations. I spent the first 17 years of my life sailing around the world on a series of sailboats my family (mostly my father and I) built ourselves from scratch. By the time I was 18 I had extensive time in 40 countries. Now, as an adult that number is 62. I picked up about 6 languages along the way. This was hardly a glamorous existence. Boats were built from wood and language lessons came from street fights on docks in Tangiers, Amsterdam, Kingston and Baranquilla. But they also came from kisses from Danish gals in endless summers. And Parisian whores petting my head on their way to home from work. To be 11 again… Add to this, my unique brand of multiculturalism. Dad was a Brit (possibly from Spanish and Irish lineage) who grew up tap dancing for the Allied Forces  in WWII with ne’er a lick of school (but spoke 6 languages) and Mom  )  is a Filipino/Spanish/Chinese/American the daughter of a wealthy politician and agriculturalist. I vacillated as a child between a frankly poor neo-Dickensian life and a sort of charmed Gatsby existence. Maids, drivers, my own TV show to host and direct and a slew of movie stars to date (in SE Asia). Did I mention when I wasn’t with these people I was with my Grandfather, the main suspect in the Black Dahlia Murder?

In my early adulthood I found the US and the UK to be places where I wanted to study, work and become a man. I had found my way acting and directing classical theater pieces in Asia and studied Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After (bizaarely) finding myself in casts of musicals like Les Miserables, I began to work in earnest playing Macbeth, Mercutio, Oedipus, Tamburlaine, Hamlet, Othello (yes), Richard III and neoclassical plays as a director. In directing I somehow convinced producers to allow me to cast award winning actors next to people with almost no experience. The result onstage was sometimes electrifying. I followed suit in staging plays that cast actors of different cultural backrounds and even language in the same piece.

My photography work had been finding voice primarily in the world of nudes, erotica and editorial. I made an extra living shooting high end escorts ( read here ). Shooting for government campaigns, some work in an Oscar nominated documentary, boutique alt erotica sites and  fledging short films somehow put me on the map (Is there map? I should say “booked employment through some degree of name recognition”). But this work isolated me from my friends in the legit worlds of theatre, film, dance and academia.

I was casting a short film with my partner Sovereign and we were hitting our heads against a wall finding a trained, striking actor willing to appear in material with strong erotic themes. They’re there, but it isn’t easy. In a flash, I felt the relief of recognition: I needed to cull from my theatre friends (many highly accoladed) come out to them that I worked in the adult world and see if they wanted to  take greater risks in expressing themselves. To my great surprise they’ve almost all said yes.

This was the birth of Darling House. Sexual culture, representation and discussion or no less worthy, in my opinion, as the edgy worlds of downtown theater, punk, the Factory or any other platform of developing art. It’s my goal to curate a cadre of outstanding creative, sexy spirits both new in their fields and highly expereinced to share with you my view of wonderful, multifaceted tapestry we live in.

I’m mixing it up to see if you like it.

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Joshua Darling (founder, Darling House) is a photographer, theater/filmmaker and actor.  He has played the title roles of Richard the 3rd in Central Park, Macbeth and Oedipus as well as directed Tony, Pulitzer and Oscar Winners. His photography and filmmaking has been seen in the NYTimes, the Washington Post, NY Post, the Academy Award nominated film Client 9, Hustler, GQ (Italy), Whore! Magazine, Gods Girls, Cinekink Film Festival, the Erotic Heritage Museum and countless other websites and magazines around the world. He lives between NYC and California and still makes a mean mojito.

http://twitter.com/jmdarling

master@darlinghouse.net

Brandon B. is a self-proclaimed sex educator, writer, and performer living in Brooklyn, New York. He conducts workshops out of various venues including the famous Pleasure Chest in the West Village where he is the manager. He is also the Darling House manager.

After failing to locate any gay sex blogs that talked about “sexy safer-sex,” in 2009 he created TheINQUEERY.com, a sex toy and product review site specifically for gay men. In 2010, he began reading erotic pieces from his personal mini-art zine at various venues including a 12-month residency at The Bowery Poetry Club for the burlesque, queer, performance art show Auralfixia.

In 2011, he was a model for the New York Sex Blogger Calendar and will be a presenter at the MOMENTUM conference in Washington DC. Expanding upon the success of The INQUEERY Brandon sets out to begin an exclusive new blog for Darling House titled “PLAN B,” documenting his personal journey — not only a sex educator, writer, and performer — but also revealing a behind the scenes look at his life as he attempts to mold himself into a public sex symbol.

http://twitter.com/mebrandonb

I produce & perform in explicit erotic content. I work closely with Nica Noelle and her studio Girl Candy Films.

I started in the industry in 2009 as a model for the alt.porn site God’s Girls.

I’ve shot with George Pitts, Tony Stamolis, Kenn Lichtenwalter, Andrew Einhorn, Nathan Appel, Keith Major, Dave Dawson, Ken Penn, Corwin Prescott, Ellen Stagg, Holly Randall, Collin J. Rae and many others.  I can be found on godsgirls.com, zivity.com, staggstreet.com, hollyrandall.com, latenightfeelings.com, and have been featured many times on fleshbot.com.

I’ve kept a blog of my adventures in and out of adult modeling, Sans Jupe.  I was featured in the 2011 NYC Sex Blogger’s Calendar and my blog has been reviewed by Hustler in their July 2011 issue.  Sans Jupe is slated for publication next year in an expanded version. I’ve been featured as a model and poet in Whore magazine and interviewed/featured in various others.

I’m a spokesmodel for Crystal Delights Toys.

I also work in film/video both for myself and for others.

I think of myself as an artist, my medium is words and still and moving images.  I use erotica to express and challenge myself.  I like to help other people express and challenge themselves as well.  I’ve been a Muse for Hire, for better or for worse.

Bastard Keith is the quadruple threat singer-host-performer-writer who can be seen providing his uniquely volatile charm to burlesque shows, saucy readings and theatrical stages around New York City.

Keith is a liberal, a Taurus, an atheist, and a married man.  But he can still make out if Madame Rosebud says it’s all right, so never be afraid to ask.

http://twitter.com/bastardkeith

I was in London in 2010, and found myself inside the Modern Tate Museum, watching porn. I also watched porn in my hotel room.

From inside the academic world I watch porn. And I also watch as feminist theories, gender theories, sexual theories, queer theories parade before me without even glimpsing at porn. Or, if doing so, speaking from a cold and distant perspective, or an extremely biased one. Or worse: with pre-concepts so deeply rooted on social bias that they fail to actually see what is before them.

From inside my bedroom, I watch porn. And I see changes are coming. Finally it seems to be out in the open, discussed in internet media and social networks.

Any questions that might rise are not easy to be answered. Very little literature is produced academically from the perspective of porn performers by scholars who are not performers themselves, and the positioning of the eye/I which might change the outcome of a research is quite powerful here. Virtually next to nothing is written about the porn industry that does not come with latent categorization and, therefore, judgment: it is depreciative, belittling, vicious, gynophobic, phallic centered, plastic, fake. 

I like porn. As a bisexual woman, I like porn. As a sexually active woman, I like porn. As a scholar, I like porn. And I love the academic world. I have taken it in my hands to introduce both my loves, hoping they will mate. And procreate.

– Anna B. Volk

Anna B. Volk holds a bachelor’s degree in English language, a masters’ in Irish Literature, a doctorate in Comparative Literature, a bachelor’s in Architecture and Urbanism. She also holds plane   tickets from Brazil, latte filled mugs, and cigarettes. And she watches porn. And writes, and talks about it. And she sometimes does all this at the same time, while listening to jazz. She lives in Rio de Janeiro.

Madame Rosebud’s blog is: Romance and Disciple

http://twitter.com/MmeRosebud

An active graffiti writer from an early age, Petker painted street art through college. While pursuing a degree in History, his interest in the arts and Art History expanded beyond graffiti. After studying abroad in Florence, Italy during college, he became engrossed in figurative and abstract painting and committed himself to making art his career. He has exhibited in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Paris, and the U.K. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

http://twitter.com/joshuapetker

http://joshuapetker.com

George Pitts is a Fine Art photographer, painter, and writer. His paintings, drawings,
and photography have been shown in numerous museum and gallery exhibitions in
the United States, Montreal, and Japan.

His photographs have been published in The New York Times Magazine, New
York Magazine, S magazine, Supplementaire (UK), Nerve.com, Flatt Magazine,
Conveyor Magazine, “The Covers Record” by Cat Power (Matador), “Joe Sent Me
Remix Album” by Vanessa Daou (Daou Records), Fast Company, Complex, Vice, Spin,
aRude magazine (print and online editions), Toro Magazine (Canada), Karin + Raoul,
Louchelink, Dodge & Burn: Diversity in Photography, Gotham, Vibe Magazine,
Kong Magazine, The Washington Post, The New Tough, Erographic.com, Obsession
Photo.com, Esquire, Details, Premiere, Aleim Magazine, Stereotype, Clam, Raygun,
Late Night Feelings.com, Kerouac’s Dog (UK), Camera Obscura (France), The Visual
Linguists (UK), Bunnie (UK), Zoo Magazine (UK), Tally Ho, Graphis Photo Annual,
American Photography Annual: volumes 16, 18, 19-21, 23-24; Masterminds of
Mode: International Fashion Festival in Japan, Nerve: The New Nude, Nerve: The
First 10 Years, The New Erotic Photography (Taschen Books), Fetish Dreams,
Boobmania, The Mammoth Book of New Erotic Photography.

http://georgepitts.com

Dastardly Dave is an internationally published fashion, glamor and erotic photographer.

His work has appeared on a multitude of websites and magazines. He has shot for a long list of designers including but not limited to Ego Assasin, Anteseptic Fashions and Dawnamatrix Designs.

His client list includes a range from housewives to tattoo artists, exotic dancers, porn stars and escorts. He has photographed cars and motorcycles, dogs and horses, people and places and does it all with a mastery of craft and lighting.

A graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art, Dave helped start Lollipop Magazine and filled a variety of rolls from graphic designer, illustrator, website designer and creative director. He moved on from there to have a successful freelance web and graphic design  business in Boston working for a wide range of clients from the International Catacomb Society to Live Nation/Clear Channel. In the waning days of the magazine, Dave started shooting fashion and glamour for Lollipop and quickly discovered a latent love for photography.

He can now be found as staff at the Studio of Photographic Arts (SOPHA) in Manchester, New Hampshire where he teaches classes on Lightroom, Advanced PhotoShop and Glamor and Beauty Photography. He is currently putting a couple book proposals together and working on his upcoming website.

Look for his work in Leg Show Magazine, Marquis Magazine, Skin Two Magazine, Von Gutenberg Magazine, Outlaw Biker Magazine as well as others. Online his work has appeared on Apneatic.com, theMoshroom.com, JadeVixen.com, JeselynOnline.com, BellaVendetta.com, SuperCult.com among others.

Award-winning magician and actor Eric Walton has lent his talents to dozens of projects in a wide range of media around the world and has garnered the accolades of the international press along the way.

His one-man show Esoterica enjoyed a seven-month run at the DR2 Theatre in New York City in 2006, was a sell-out at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has since been produced at the Leicester Square Theatre in London, at the Brighton Fringe Festival in Brighton, England, at the Spiegeltent, and as a part of the River to River Festival in downtown Manhattan.

He has written six plays to date and his work has been produced on two continents by the likes of Daryl Roth, Fletch Productions, Cirque Tacular Productions, Double Helix Theater Company, Push Productions, Impetuous Theater and Gravity and Glass Productions.

Eric has been the subject of numerous feature articles in the press, including the Times of London, Zink Magazine, The New York Daily News and The List, and made numerous appearances on television and radio.

Eric also works regularly as a photographer and his work has been published in the New York Times and Paper magazine.

He lives in New York City with his pet doves.

–

Steve’s Twitter is: twitter.com/tmronin

Steve’s site is: teamrockstarimages.com

From shooting the runways at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York, to capturing heart breaking rescue images for national animal rights campaigns, Penn’s work is often compelling and provocative. Penn consistently produces highly compelling works of art on varied subjects. His work is internationally published in books, magazines and other promotional materials and sought after by many private collectors as showcased in solo and group exhibitions across the country and Europe. Find a few example in past and upcoming editions of Marquis Magazine, and Goliath Books Latex Fashion Book.

Ken began his education and career with a B.F.A degree in Graphic Design, which then expanded to Web Design all involving photography in some form. With a strong eye for bold design and texture, Penn hopes to continue his view on art and pushing boundaries. Ken is excited to to be a part of Darling House as a main outlet for his erotic work.