He spoke about being an icon to so many in the gay community, saying it surprised him to hear how much of an influence he’s had on men’s lives. If Narcissus—the famous character from Greek mythology—had been mentored by Peter Berlin, his story might not have ended in tragedy. After falling in love with his own reflection and then realizing that it actually wasn’t another person, Narcissus was so devastated by the prospect of never being able to experience true romantic love that he took his own life. But had he come of age in the early ’70s, when the tools of photographic reproduction were available to the general public, Peter Berlin’s example would have taught him that focusing entirely on your own image can be quite a satisfying substitute for traditional romantic love.

Berlin designed and sewed all of his clothing without a pattern. He also was a painter and illustrator. He began photographing himself in erotic poses and making skin-tight clothes to wear as he cruised the parks and train stations of Berlin, and the streets of Rome, Paris, New York and San Francisco. Many of his designs are now seen in the fashion works of such international designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier. [ citation needed] Filmmaking and celebrity [ edit ] Berlin’s cultural contributions were so many decades ahead of his time and so unique—not fitting cleanly into either the world of art or the world of pornography—that understanding their relevance and impact requires the invention of a new terminology. I propose the word photosexuality and aim to make the case that Berlin was the first acclaimed male photosexual and the leading pioneer of its practice. As I see it, photosexuality is a contemporary mainstream sexuality in which erotic self-portraiture—the documentation of one’s own sex acts and the private and public distribution of those images—is intertwined so completely with one’s sex life that it becomes as important as the sex acts themselves and, in some cases, even more important. Peter Berlin grew up in Berlin in the 1940s and 1950s. He studied photography and his first job was working for the fashion photography journal, VIP Shaukel. This “ordinary life,” however, did not last long. A Dorian Gray-type character, Berlin once caught sight of his own reflection in a shop window in Paris; mistaking his own face for that of another and believed he had found true love. Berlin's photographs and artwork have been exhibited around the world, including the exhibition "Split/Vision" (New York, 1986), curated by Mapplethorpe, and in the exhibition "Berlin on Berlin" (2006) at the Leslie Lohman Gallery in New York.At the Mine Shaft, did you sprawl out in the famous bathtub and get urinated on, perchance? That was a common occurrence there.

This whole thing amazes me,” he said. “I stopped living, basically — I don’t do anything anymore. I only use my time to think. I love thinking, and trying to figure out stuff. I try to think ‘why did I do why I did?’ My mind is very entertained. Usually people either bore me, or annoy me, so I’m by myself, right? And it’s sort of a luxury.”In a way he had, as his life’s work became the creation of a corpus of imagery celebrating and indulging his own beauty. Although never his intention, he transformed gay erotica into an art form, creating images that spoke to an audience wider than just the gay world. His constant arousal stimulates a tangible energy – in the process of seducing himself he seduces the viewer. In a paradox of creation, his images do not speak of self-obsession or arrogance, but of confidence and honesty. I stopped traveling completely,” he said, adding that he “dreaded” the trip prior to arrival. “I don’t have friends [here] anymore who are alive.”