# Rick Castro

Rick Castro (July 20, 1958) is an American photographer, motion picture director, stylist, curator and writer whose work focuses on BDSM, fetish, and desire.

## Early life

Castro began work as a fashion stylist and clothing designer. Over the years, he worked for as a stylist on fashion shoots and designed clothing for Marlene Stewart, Bette Midler, David Bowie, Herb Ritts, the style agency Cloutier, George Hurrell, Interview magazine, GQ magazine, Vanity Fair magazine, Rolling Stone magazine, I-D magazine, Tina Turner and John Leguizamo. Castro was the designer for Michele Lamy's first menswear collection- Lamy Men, (1986-1989).

## Photographic career

In 1986, photographer Joel-Peter Witkin took him to purchase his first camera in Albuquerque. In 1988, at the age of 30, Castro became a freelance photographer, and his work appeared in the Los Angeles gay news magazines Frontiers,Drummer and the national gay news magazine, The Advocate.
Throughout the years, Castro has had a number of exhibitions, including "Furotica: It Ain't Exactly Bambi" at the Track 16 gallery in Los Angeles, 2003.
Castro's work is collected by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, and the Tom of Finland Foundation.
His 1994 short film of hustler interviews inspired Bruce LaBruce to film Hustler White with Tony Ward. Castro collaborated on the film as writer and co-director with LaBruce. In 1998, he appeared in Sex/Life in L.A. Jochen Hick's adult documentary about the sex lives of the men who make L.A. adult movies. Castro has directed a number of other short films and a documentary, Plushies & Furries, (2001) for MTV.
Castro's first gallery opened at Les Duex Cafes, Hollywood, in 2002, and premiered the first Furry themed art show. In 2005 Castro founded Antebellum Gallery, the only fetish art gallery in America, which he ran from 2005 to 2017.
Castro shot the F/W look book 2014 for designer Rick Owens using his 93-year-old father Al Castro as the featured model.
During October, 2015, Rick Castro received an artist lifetime Achievement award from the Tom of Finland foundation. Castro's photography was featured in Rick Owens: Subhuman, Inhuman, Superhuman at Triennale di Milano, December 2017- March 2018. Castro was interviewed by his former boyfriend, designer Rick Owens for the May 2019 issue of Autre Magazine, and featured in the historic first queer issue of Los Angeles Magazine, June 2019. Castro is contributing photographer and writer for Another and Anotherman Magazines UK.
Castro created a virtual memorial entitled The Goddess Bunny Story, for one of his early models, Sandie Crisp, AKA The Goddess Bunny, who died of COVID-19 on 27, January, 2021.
Three of Castro's large scale images were featured in Illuminate LA’s Collective Memory Installation, Grand Park, Los Angeles, February/March 2023.
Castro was one of the featured artists presenting a slide show of his photography and lecture for Queering The Lens at The Getty Center, kicking off Pride, June 2023.
"Rick Castro Forever" was presented at Hollywood Forever Cemetery at the historic columbarium, October 5th through November 30th, 2024. Castro's photography brought queer sensibility to Hollywood Forever. As of February 2024, "Columbarium Continuum: by Rick Castro", is an ongoing unique museum hosted at Hollywood Forever.
Castro was part of a history group exhibition, Queer-ish presented at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont during November/December, 2023.
During 2023 and 2024, Castro was featured in Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines. This exhibition featured 1400 items from zine creators from 1970 to the present day.
In 2024, Castro's photography were featured in Tom of Finland Art & Culture Festival at Halle am Berghain, Berlin, and Vitam Picturarum (Life in Pictures) sponsored by WeHo Arts Festival, West Hollywood.
Castro's first solo exhibition entitled Las Trece Vidas de Rick Castro, (The Thirteen Lives of Rick Castro) premiered in August 2024 at Galeria HGZ, Querétaro.

## Published books

* Sweet, Sam (2024-06-24). Rick Castro S/M Blvd: Photographs of Hustlers & Remembrances- 1986-1999. All Night Menu. ISBN 978-0-9992682-1-6.
* Castro, Rick (2004). 13 Years of Bondage: The Photography of Rick Castro. Bondage Series. Los Angeles: Fluxion Editions. ISBN 0-9672129-4-4.
* Castro, Rick; Olley, Michelle; Childers, Michael; Flynt, Robert (2000). Homme. Masterpieces of Erotic Photography (in German). Edition Olms. ISBN 3-283-00368-8.
* Castro, Rick (1991). Castro. Bondage Series. Los Angeles: Tom of Finland Foundation. ISBN 1-879055-27-9.
He has also self-published the following hand-made books:
* Zack 1991
* The Bondage Book #1. 1992.
* The Bondage Book #2. 1993
* The Bondage Book #3. 1994
* The Bondage Book #4. 1996

## Filmed works

* 1992: Automolove
* 1993: Fertile Latoyah Jackson Video Magazine #1
* 1994: 45 Minutes of Bondage
* 1994: Fertile Latoyah Jackson Video Magazine#2 The Kinky Issue
* 1994: Three Faces of Women
* 1996: Hustler White
* 1997: Another 45 Minutes of Bondage
* 2001: Plushies and Furries
* 2013 ANTEBELLUM2013
* 2014: ANTEBELLUM2014
* 2015: ANTEBELLUM2015
* 2016: ANTEBELLUM2016
* 2017: The Dark Waters of Hotel Cecil