An unusual look at bodies, nature, and transience: with Robert C. Rore, images of men take center stage—posed between a romantic mountain landscape, athleticism, and self-presentation. The starting point is a powerful yet fleeting natural phenomenon: alpenglow. Alpenglow—the brief, intense glow of the mountains in the last light of day—serves as a visual motif in one of the new works.
But instead of classic landscape romance in the style of Carl Rottmann, the viewer encounters a downhill biker in the midst of the moment, snapping a selfie. Instead of a stag in the evening light: technology, dynamism, and self-staging. The works play with images of male corporeality: heated, trained, sweating in the light of the setting sun. At the same time they raise questions about maturity, aging, and impermanence. Strength and vulnerability, presence and melancholy—all of this glows in these images.
Masculinity that doesn’t brag, but shines
It’s also about beauty—a beauty that does not have to prove its existence. It simply is there, for a moment, before it fades. Like alpenglow itself: monumental, radiant, and yet fleeting. Despite the playful imagery, the works carry a lingering depth. In a world dominated by loud “bros- bliss” and testosterone-fueled self-presentation, his painting offers an alternative form of male presence—calm, poised, and humorous. A masculinity that does not boast but shines.
The calendars from the Munich-based Kunstbehandlung Gallery, featuring painted erotic male motifs, have long held a regular place on many walls. The new issues by Luke Carter, Robert C. Rore, and Max Ströder for 2026 (each 14 pages, 21 x 14.8 cm, fully four-color, spiral-bound) are now available for 10 euros each at kunstbehandlung.com. There, only homoerotic, contemporary art by gay artists is presented.
The majority of the works in this collection focus on depicting the male body, usually shown lightly clad or not at all. On display and for sale are paintings, watercolors, drawings, fine-art prints, and entire series by the Munich-based painter and draftsman Robert C. Rore, while the other exhibited artists focus mainly on painting or photography. (dd/pm)
