The avant-garde drag artist details his first time in a gay bar and growing up with the omniscient eye of God
Channel 4’s Random Acts has partnered with Tate to produce a series of collaborative visuals responding to the gallery’s exhibition Queer British Art 1861-1967. The third video instalment is the Matt Lambert-directed clip, entitled God Is Watching, starring David Hoyle.
The drag artist discusses the impact and significance of entering his first gay bar in Blackpool when he was 17. He touches upon the trepidation he felt before entering a space that he describes as a “world you weren’t meant to go into”. Through the setting of a “hedonistic escape”, Matt Lambert’s visual explores the idea of gay venues being forbidden spaces to Hoyle, who had a religious upbringing.
In Hoyle’s signature tongue-in-cheek manner, he talks about feeling the presence of God – the “all-seeing being in outer space” – as a little boy sat on the toilet “doing a poo”.
On the video, Lambert said in a press statement: “David has been someone that I’ve been fascinated with for years since I first saw his tour in London as Divine David… Our connection grew when I recently made a video for his husband, Christeene, in collaboration with Rick Owens. David has also been a muse for Rick and even wears a custom piece by him in the video. It was an honour to pay tribute to one of our queer prophets whom the community holds in such high regard, but has gone relatively unsung to the masses.”
Watch the video in the player above and read Crack’s review of Queer British Art 1861-1967.
The exhibition runs at Tate Britain, London, until 1 October.
