Hello Colby! It sure has been a while! Would you like to re-introduce yourself to my readers and make your apologies for your long leave of absence?
Hi Portis (and fellow wasps). My name is Colby Keller and I am a sex worker. Sorry if that sounds too much like an AA intro.
I recently posted your new Butt magazine editorial, mate! I see nothing has changed (thank god!) and you're still totes comfortable with the nudity?
Ha! Yes. I'm actually about to complete an art project at the end of the month that confronts nudity in a very scary/funny way.
You're looking a lot more ripped these days! Been working harder in the ole gym, have you?
Hmm. I suppose I have? My real secret: no boyfriends! For some strange reason, I pack on the pounds when I live with lovers. Too many nights in bed watching TV and eating ice cream. The single life keeps me cut.
I need to ask about your recent collaboration with an artist who turned you into a merman! The finished sculpture is great! How did the project come about, and how long did the process take from start to finish?
Cam wrote me an email and asked me if I would be interested in his project a little less than a year ago. The casting process was terrifying! It was freezing cold in the studio and I couldn't move for hours! I also had to pee pretty badly. My diet is 90% ice tea and my bladder is the size of a Ben Wa ball. Through no fault of Cam's, or his many helpful assistants, the process was intensely uncomfortable and painful for me. I didn't think I would make it to the end actually. It sounds silly now, but I really thought I was close to death! As soon as the cast came off, I appreciated the experience for what it was - spiritually and physically moving (literally!).
Well now you know how Ariel felt?!
Are you happy with the finished piece?
Yes, I am. It's funny and sad. A lot like the real me actually. ;-) The piece was really about the casting process and my inter-personal relationship with the artist himself. I don't have the same relationship to the object of the sculpture that a typical viewer might.
Have you been working on any other creative projects that we can talk about?
I've actually been working on two time-intensive, socially-focused art projects lately, "Pieces of Eight" and "Everything But Lenin". Both come to a conclusion on May 31st. Both projects are a little too complicated to fully sketch out for you here but I'm excited (and a little scared) to finish them both.
A lot of my readers will know you from your work in porn, which you have acted in for a few years now. I wanted to ask you if you think about porn differently now to when you first started out in the industry?
I think about porn differently every day. There is a lot that you could say negatively about the industry. That said, I've had a lot of wacky jobs in my life and porn has done the least to exploit my physical body and my labor power. I'm grateful to have had such a long and productive career in the jizz biz (and to have fucked so many HOT butts along the way!)
Would you say the industry has changed in the time you have been working in it?
I can't speak for the sex industry as a whole, but conventional gay porn has certainly changed. The preponderance of bareback porn alone has really shaken things up. If only we lived in a sensible culture, every model would have full health coverage and access to Truvada.
The best sex you've had on film in the past year was with.....?
Oh man. That's a tough question. I've had a lot of really good scenes. Levi Michaels and Duncan Black certainly stand out in my mind.
I am curious to know if working in porn has influenced your artistic work?
It's actually been quite a challenge figuring out how to integrate my art practice and my professional life in porn. The art world (and ultimately the market that has come to define it) likes to think of artists as living in a certain kind of isolation tank. To be a "real" artist you should (can?) ONLY be an artist. No one explicitly says this of course, but the implication presents itself in the way art "work" (the actual art making process) comes to instantiate a break with "real life". It's oddly patronizing. Like all markets, the art market rewards pre-established nodes of privilege and conventionally marketable products. Unfortunately, "art" itself suffers in the process. The state of the art world today is wildly at odds with the traditional history of the avant-garde, which sought to open new pathways, not close them. Everyone can think of art as a valuable practice for themselves, not just people privileged enough to sell work in galleries.
You always look so comfortable having your picture taken in editorials. What would you say brings out the best in you when working with a photographer?
As a subject, I need to be able to trust the eye of the photographer. Confidence in the photographer instills confidence in me.
Can we expect to see you in more editorials before the year is out?
Hmm. I'm sure something will come about before year's end, but I don't have any immediate editorial projects on the horizon.
So how will you be spending the summer, big guy? Any fun plans?
I won't have a place to live at the end of May, so my summer plans are up for grabs. Ideally, I'd like to buy a simple van, outfit it with a mattress, and tour the country fucking hot boys and making homemade porn. I don't quite have the savings to make that idea a reality just yet, so I'll probably just settle for an old junker and hit the road in search of a cheap campground or mobile home park I can eventually call home.
How would you describe Colby's summer wardrobe?
Lol. Good one. As part of my project "Everything But Lenin", I'm actually giving everything I own away for free. I consider each exchange to consist of a work of art. By "everything", I mean EVERYTHING (everything expect a copper wall plaque of Lenin I grabbed off Ebay). I won't have a computer or a phone or shoes or pants or underwear or even a single shirt to call my own. On May 31st, I'll be completely stripped bare. Then on June 1st I reboot. As far as my future wardrobe goes, I'd like something simple and utilitarian, nothing pretentious or too fashionable. That said, I wouldn't be opposed to working with an artist to construct a wardrobe that meets these requirements: Mao meets construction worker/hiking enthusiast.
Sounds like you might start a "trend".
Would you like to ask Portis Wasp a question?
Hard butter or soft butter?
I'd have to say soft butter, for my sins. What happens next?
Soylent! I discovered a new food replacement therapy ironically called Soylent (after the movie Soylent Green). It's basically a beige slurry you drink every day instead of eating food. It promises all the necessary nutritional requirements of old-fashioned food, but in a new easy to drink (and cheap!) formula. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE food, but I'm also pretty poor. I could save a lot of money on Soylent. It's the future!!! Embrace it.
Thanks Colby!
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