Bob Mizer Foundation Mourns Passing of Groundbreaking Fetish Artist REX

SAN FRANCISCO – REX, whose pioneering illustrations portrayed the pre-AIDS S&M and fetish communities of San Francisco and New York in the 1970s and ‘80s, has died. 

The artist died in late March in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His real name and exact birthdate are unknown, though it is known that he was born sometime in 1947, making him 76 or 77 at the time of his death. 

After working briefly in the commercial art world during the 1960s, he changed his name to REX and began drawing raw, unapologetically graphic depictions of the S&M subculture that was just beginning to emerge on both U.S. coasts in the 1970s. He worked in pen and ink, using a series of tiny dots called pointillism to create his black-and-white images of explicit gay sex among roughened, muscular men in places like darkened dive bars, dingy alleyways, and seedy motels. His pen created works for everything from pulp novel covers to gay clubs such as The Mineshaft in New York City. 

REX halted producing further works at the outbreak of the AIDS crisis in 1981, later opening a New York gallery in 1992 and eventually moving back to San Francisco full-time. 

Bob Mizer Foundation historian Trent Dunphy, who, with his late husband Bob Mainardi owned and operated The Magazine for more than 50 years, says he and Mainardi met REX when the artist came to their store in 1980, at the height of his career. REX, Dunphy recalls, sought merchants who would be willing to sell his works. 

“He was a great talker,” Dunphy recalls. “One of my customers and I were talking and he liked REX’s illustrations. He was 100 percent straight and said to me, ‘You know, I have his drawings and he’s really disturbing. Why does he do that?’ I loved that, and I told it to REX, who responded, ‘That’s the point!’”

The artist was notoriously mum on his private life and even refused to have his photograph taken, Dunphy adds. 

“Benedikt Taschen (founder of publishing house Taschen) was visiting us one day and he held up his camera to take a picture of Rex, and Rex immediately put his hands up, and ruined Benedikt’s snapshot,” Dunphy explains. “He was a little pissed and he was adamant about that. He was very opinionated, and he was not shy about expressing it.”

For many years, REX lived and kept a studio in The Magazine building, which now houses the Bob Mizer Foundation. Dunphy recalls that REX’s work space was decorated entirely in black. 

During his later years, the artist became disillusioned with what he saw as American society’s increasingly puritanical stance on artistic freedom. 

“He thought American culture was crumbling and dysfunctional,” Dunphy says, “so he moved to Europe.”

For those familiar with REX’s career, it was no surprise that the artist wanted to live and work in a place where he could be truly free and live on his own terms. 

“Bob and I both loved him,” Dunphy says. “You know, REX once said in that in order for something to be pornography, it has to be forbidden by society. That’s the key component. And that’s how he came up with his drawings.”

About The Bob Mizer Foundation

The Bob Mizer Foundation Inc. was established in 2010 by photographer Dennis Bell for charitable and educational purposes, and as an organization committed to promoting and preserving the works of progressive and controversial photographers. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Foundation is supported by grants, donations, and the contributions made by its devoted members, interns, and volunteers. 

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