My portraits of men often generate a tension between pain or suffering and complete ecstasy. Saint Sebastian’s martyrdom has been an image that’s hard to forget, as he is often portrayed tied to a tree with arrows pierced through his body and a face that displays pain, sorrow, pleasure, or any interpretation of the like. In Catholicism he is the patron saint of athletes but within gay culture he has been appropriated as an expression and symbol of penetrative euphoria. This connection to me has created a clear delineation for my work which unfolds the layers of societies view on homosexuality. The homoeroticism inherent in the simultaneous expression of pain and sorrow/ pleasure has ties to other intimacies that I am drawn to, including physical contact sports like wrestling or play which usually produce similar facial expressions when in action, as well as in eroticism. 

We have seen these same expressions being used in art for centuries whether it be Christ on the cross, or other saintly figures, but in this context it becomes provocative even though there is no actual image of taboo sexual acts. Suffering, pain, pleasure or ecstasy in human expression are often identical and interestingly are seen as polar opposites. In my artworks they blur the lines between the two.

-Jeffrey Heiman