#FollowFriday, May 18: You Should Be Following These 5 Artists, Photographers and Activists

In our new #FollowFriday weekly feature, we plan to highlight five Instagram accounts from across the LGBTQ spectrum. With no shortage of taste and talent in our community, these artists, performers and activists will enrich your feed and inspire you to scroll on.

@hajime_art

Hajime Yamamoto is a Filipino-Japanese artist. His work is precise and bold in stroke and composition as well as spontaneous in color. Each of his pieces are a beautiful rendering of the human form. No wonder he’s had a number of solo exhibitions throughout Japan and in Barcelona.

His drawings of naked guys, usually full-frontal, are causing quite a stir online. They’re from the series ‘Les garcon Des Fleurs.’ (These images are beautiful, but unsurprisingly NSFW, so you’ll want to click through to see them.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfFrpJ3hHSr/?taken-by=hajime_art

He says, “‘Les garcon Des Fleurs’ was inspired by the inter-connectivity we experience as a new form of intimacy through technology. The series explores this concept with digital interpretations of the naked male form entwined with nature. It seeks to challenge the conventional view of online personal connections as being cold or ‘unreal,’ as well as the cultural taboo of full-frontal male nudity and the negative reactions this can often evoke.”

@bobbottlenyc

Bob Bottle is a New York City-based artist and designer whose work explores relationships between queer identity and cyber culture. He uses his Instagram as a visual diary and mood-board.

As a graphic designer and video artist, Bob frequently collaborates with queer nightlife artists and personalities, from Cazwell and Susanne Bartsch to Jodie Harsh, Peppermint and Amanda Lepore.