MATT

{{Short description|American cartoonist Charles Edward Kerbs (1940–2002)}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = MATT

| birth_name = Charles Edward Kerbs

| birth_date = {{birth date|1940|08|08}}

| birth_place = New Orleans, Louisiana

| death_date = {{death date and age|2002|03|04|1940|08|08}}

| partner = Jeffrey Johnson

| known_for = Erotic drawing

| death_place = New Orleans, Louisiana

| image = Charles Edward Kerbs aka MATT.jpg

| signature = File:MATT Charles Kerbs signature.jpg

| nationality = American

}}

Charles Edward Kerbs (August 8, 1940 – March 4, 2002), better known by his pen name MATT, was an American artist, actor, and playwright active in the late twentieth century, known for his erotic illustrations.{{Cite web |year=2002 |title=Remembering Matt |url=https://www.worldoftomoffinland.com/foundation/Dispatch/Dispatch2002aug/Matt.htm |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=World of Tom of Finland |series=Fall 2002 |publisher=The Dispatch}}{{Cite web |last=Hay Owen |first=Lyla |year=2002 |title=Obituaries - Charles Edward Kerbs |url=http://archive.ambushmag.com/is602/obits.htm |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=Ambush magazine |series=Volume 20, Issue 6 }}{{Cite book |last=Philips Smith |first=Howard |title=Unveiling the Muse: The Lost History of Gay Carnival in New Orleans |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |year=2017 |isbn=978-1496814029}}

Biography

Kerbs was born on August 8, 1940, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He began working professionally while still in high school, painting a mural in the cafeteria of Easton High School, from which he graduated in 1959.

As a teenager, Kerbs found a liking and talent for drawing the male form, especially wrestlers, cowboys, leathermen, and servicemen. He was an avid reader of the beefcake magazine Physique Pictorial and drew inspiration from gay artists such as Tom of Finland, Harry Bush, and Art Bob. His drawings were first published in Grecian Guild Pictorial when Kerbs was 16 years old.

In the 1960s, Kerbs submitted his portfolio to Bob Mizer, who loved Kerbs' work and published it in Athletic Model Guild. According to Bill Schmeling, Mizer suggested Kerbs adopt the pen name MATT because of his talent for depicting "men-on-the-mats." Kerbs' erotic drawings were massively successful, appearing in every issue of Honcho magazine as well as other major leather, S&M, and fetish publications such as Drummer.{{Cite journal |date=1980 |title=Our Fifth Anniversary Issue |journal=Drummer |volume=5 |issue=38 |pages=11}}{{Cite journal |date=July 1987 |title=Drummer Magazine |url=https://jackfritscher.com/Drummer/Contents/Contents-HTML/100-125/Drummer_106_Contents.html |journal=Drummer |issue=106 |via=Jack Fritscher}}{{Cite journal |date=August 1987 |title=Drummer Magazine |url=https://jackfritscher.com/Drummer/Contents/Contents-HTML/100-125/Drummer_107_Contents.html |journal=Drummer |issue=107 |via=Jack Fritscher}}

Kerbs had a passion for live theater. In 1964 he conducted an acting workshop for Free Southern Theater. In 1965 he played the lead role of Finch in a production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying by Gallery Circle Theatre. After the show closed, he moved to Manhattan in New York City to pursue a career as an actor and playwright.{{Cite news |last=Gussow |first=Mel |date=1970-02-04 |title=Playwrights Unit Lifts Curtain on Success |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/02/04/archives/playwrights-unit-lifts-curtain-on-success-look-at-the-record.html |access-date=2024-07-16 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} He wrote several plays, including Phaedra and The Sleeping Gypsy, both of which premiered at Caffe Cino in 1967.{{Cite news |last=Patterson |first=George |year=2001 |title=On the Boards |url=http://archive.ambushmag.com/is2501/otb.htm |access-date=2024-07-16 |work=Ambush Magazine |volume=19 |issue=25}}{{Cite book |last=Stone |first=Wendell C. |title=Caffe Cino: The Birthplace of Off-Off-Broadway |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |year=2005 |isbn=9780809326457 |pages=160–161}} He received acting lessons from Nola Chilton, who is credited as an important influence on his artistic development. During that time, he supported himself by designing fabrics and wallpaper patterns (with additional financial assistance from his mother, Rose). In 1970, he and his friend Lyla Hay Owen formed their own theater, the People Playhouse, which produced several of Kerbs' plays. Around this time he moved back to New Orleans.File:Rasslers, 'ranglers & Rough Guys The Erotic Art of Matt.jpg

In the 1970s Kerbs' art was exhibited at the Galley House in New Orleans, followed by Stompers Gallery and the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York. During the 1970s Kerbs also worked for D.H. Holmes, designing an art nouveau mural for the company's Bourbon Street restaurant as well as elaborate holiday displays. He also created costumes and posters for gay Mard Gras krewes, some of which were acquired by the Louisiana State Museum.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Kerbs continued to contribute to gay publications, including FirstHand: Experiences for Loving Men and Alternate: the International magazine of sexual politics.{{Cite web |last= |title=Alternate: the International magazine of sexual politics; #13, May/June, 1980: Special California Issue |url=https://www.bolerium.com/pages/books/295327/john-w-rowberry-michael-endicott-toss-gregg-howe-daniel-curzon-michael-kearns-john-preston-judy/alternate-the-international-magazine-of-sexual-politics-13-may-june-1980-special-california |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=Bolerium Books |language=en-US |quote=Alternate: the International magazine of sexual politics; #13, May/June, 1980: Special California Issue - Rowberry, John W., editor, Gregg Howe, Michael Endicott-Toss, Harry Hart-Browne, Charles Kerbs, Judy Grahn, John Preston, Michael Kearns, Daniel Curzon, et al.}} In 1986, Kerbs was featured in Naked Eyes, an artist showcase organized by Olaf Odegaard that highlighted gay men's visual art for the International Gay and Lesbian Archives.{{Cite web |title=Finding Aid to the International Gay and Lesbian Archives Records, 1958-2002 Coll2012-002 |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8jm2816/entire_text/ |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=Online Archives of California |series=Coll2012-002, Subseries 6.2}} He was featured at the Tom of Finland Foundation's Erotic Art Fair in 1995 and 1996. In his last years, he began self-publishing some of his art and adult comic books.

Kerbs was diagnosed with heart problems sometime in the 1970s. He died of pneumonia on March 4, 2002, while hospitalized for heart bypass surgery. Kerbs was survived by his partner of 18 years, Jeff Johnson, who committed to continue making Kerbs' art available to his admirers.

Plays

About the Dirty Old Man
Midgets From Uranus
Phaedra
Sexy Music Again{{Cite news |last=Kaiser |first=Bill |title=On the Purple Circuit |url=https://www.purplecircuit.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/pc-12-4.pdf |access-date=2024-07-16 |work=Purple Circuit |page=3 |volume=12 |issue=4}}
The Sleeping Gypsy
The Wicked Stage

Cultural impact and legacy

In 1997, Brush Creek Media published an 80-page collection of his art titled 'Rasslers, 'ranglers & Rough Guys: The Erotic Art of Matt.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VIEHtwAACAAJ |title='Rasslers, 'Ranglers & Rough Guys: The Erotic Art of Matt |date=1997 |publisher=Brush Creek Media |others=Introduced by The Hun and Doug McClermont |editor-last=Bean |editor-first=Joseph W. |edition= |series=Brush Creek Media Artist Series: Volume 3 |location=San Francisco |language=en}} In a forward, Honcho editor-in-chief Doug McClemont wrote, "His works, almost all classics of the genre, have become a collective time capsule of gay fantasy life."

In a tribute published by the Tom of Finland Foundation in 2002, Bill Schmeling described Kerbs as "the all time great erotic 'Wrestling Artist{{'"}} and wrote, "Charles Kerbs was a gentle giant, a quiet, unassuming powerhouse of creative genius and energy. The man may have left us, but his spirit lives on in MATT."

The Leather Archives & Museum and Tom of Finland Foundation include some of Kerbs' art in their permanent collections.{{Cite web |title=Drawing by Matt Charles Kerbs - Artwork (2002082401) |url=https://leatherarchives.org/ca/index.php/Detail/objects/12414 |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=Leather Archives & Museum Collections Database}}{{Cite web |title="Texas Longhorn Rematch;" "Kid Marine vs the Bad Angel;" "Wrestling Vikings;" "Cockfighting;" "The Arena" by Matt (Parts 1-3); "The Lumberjacks" by Matt - File (PERS-0019-03-0134) |url=https://leatherarchives.org/ca/index.php/Detail/objects/31296 |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=Leather Archives & Museum Collections Database}}