ART BY TROY SCHOONEMAN

Portraits from the Velvet Hour offers a lush and provocative meditation on the male form—seen through a prism of theatrical light, saturated colour, and sculptural intimacy. These figures—muses, icons, and dreamlike strangers—emerge from a world of projected patterns and electric shadows, each suspended in a moment of heightened erotic poise and cinematic reverie.

Infused with the charged glamour of 1970s counterculture, the series evokes a lineage of queer desire and mythic masculinity. Moustaches, glistening torsos, and defiant stares recall a time of unapologetic expression, filtered through the visual language of fantasy, fashion, and memory. Whether turned inward or meeting the viewer’s gaze, each subject radiates presence—stylised, enigmatic, and impossibly alive.

Rendered with painterly precision and surreal clarity, these portraits celebrate performance as a form of truth. Light becomes costume; shadow, a kind of script. What results is a theatre of the body—intimate yet untouchable, seductive yet unknowable.

Portraits from the Velvet Hour is available exclusively as a digital series. Each image is offered as a high-resolution download, inviting collectors to engage with the work on their own terms—whether printed, projected, or quietly held in private reverie. Full usage terms are provided on each image’s individual purchase page.