In 1971 I liked to visit the Chicago Art Institute to enjoy the paintings and the people who visited the collection. I'm Dan, a 58 year old gay guy into art, porn and sex. After all the early 70's was before HIV killed most of my friends. I'm not much to look at being 5'9" and a soft bellied 250. So the bar scene has passed me by. I do have a circle of friends and lovers but I have not added anyone new in some time. Anyhow, on this particular Sunday in May I walked into the gallery with the pointillist masterpiece, Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. Like most people I love this painting and have sat with it for hours over the years. I saw a young man sitting on the bench in front of the painting and my gaydar went off. He was young, 19 or 20, thin, about 145, and had long black hair giving him a fem appearance. Just my type. I moved behind him to look over his shoulder to see what he was writing in his notebook. It looked like notes for some sort of essay, no doubt a school assignment. Nothing ventured nothing gained so I spoke to him.
"I see you are studying La Grande Jatte. It is an engaging painting. Did you notice that none of the faces are fully formed? Did you notice how flat all the figures are rendered?
"Why no, but now that you mention it I see what you mean."
He turned to look at me and I saw his lovely face. He was pale and his eyes were smiling. I thought I'll push my luck and see if he'd run off if I sat with him.
"Can I join you an the bench?"
"Sure, have a seat."
I sat down in what might seem too close to him. He did not move away. We chatted about the painting and his assignment. As we talked I moved closer to him and lowered my voice so that we had to touch. I brought my mouth closer to his ear and again he did not move away. This was promising but I did not want to scare him. I figured I'd try to get him into a less crowed gallery and that the classical sculpture would be a good place to test to see how he reached to looking at penises.
"You could compare this painting to classical Roman relief sculpture. Both try to render figures in two dimensions so it is fair to compare Seurat's solution to a Roman master sculptor. There are fine examples in another gallery. Would you like to see it?"
"That seems like a short walk to an A. Lead on."
We walked to the Greek and Roman gallery. As we did so I touched his shoulder to direct him. He did not flinch at my touch and as expected the gallery was empty of other visitors. I knew that the Fragment of a Sarcophagus (Coffin) would have the figures I'd need to move him along and maybe get him to my apartment.
"See how these figures are fully formed. Not only can you see the center figure's penis, you can even see his pubic hair. Look at the figures on the left. It seems that the standing man is holding the seated man's hand. Do you see what I mean? Seurat doesn't have anything like this level of detail."
Did he know where this was going? He seemed naive and was trying to hide his lack of sophistication. "I see what you mean about the detail here that was missing in A Sunday on La Grande Jatte."
I decided to try to get us out of the museum and into my place. I have a large collection of gay porn and a beautiful book that used classic erotic art as window dressing to show an old guy having sex with someone my target's age.
"You seem interested in classic art. I have a book or two on the subject. Of course the books go into more detail about both the art and the social relationships in Greece and Rome. Since both cultures had an open relationship to sex and nudity the books may be too strong for you but if you would like to see them we could go there now."
"But I just met you and don't know your name or where you live."
"That is easily corrected. I'm Dan and I live on Clark St. near the Dearborn "L" stop. Now be fair and tell me your name and where you live."
"I'm Sam and I live near the Loyola "L" stop on the same line as your stop."
We shook hands and I held his hand in mine for a second or two longer than expected. I looked down at his face and he seemed to be considering my offer. I heard the words that told me we going to have a very good time.