“He was still hurt and angered by the harassment he received from the LAPD but he had moved beyond that and really appreciated the attention he was getting for his work. “He was a funny, humble guy,” Clamp says. Then, in 2003, Clamp featured Roberts in the group show Boys of Summer and made his most famous photograph, Indio, the poster for the exhibition. Soon thereafter, photographer Rick Castro discovered Roberts showing his photographs in the back room of a video store in North Hollywood and organised Homosexual Overkill, a 1996 group exhibition at Rita Dean Gallery in San Diego that lead to Roberts getting a book deal from FotoFactory Press. In 2000, California Boys: Photographs from the 1980s and 1970s was published, and the following year The Wild Ones: The Erotic Photography of Mel Roberts was released – both of which have since become collector’s items. That didn’t stop the LAPD from returning once more in 1992, failing once again to find any evidence of criminal activity. Roberts was effectively forced to retire in 1981. No charges were filed but the damage had been done. Two years later, the LAPD raided his home again. He had to spend a great amount of time and money trying to get back what was rightfully his when he would receive things back, things would be missing or damaged.” “The police were never able to find anything illegal and he was never charged with any crimes.
THE VAULT OF BRACCUS REX FULL
“The police assumed some of his models were under 18 but Roberts had full proof all his models were of age. Then, in 1977, the Los Angeles Police Department raided his Bel Air home, seizing all of his negatives, prints, cameras, and mailing lists. For decades, Roberts was able to live on his own terms. Knowing he could be sent to prison for full frontal male nudity, Roberts built his own colour lab at home to develop his photographs – after Eastman Kodak returned his transparencies with holes punched through where the genitals would otherwise be. The group sought to unify the LGBTQ community, and educate its members of their rights, which were frequently trampled by the police and employers. Many of the founders were Communist and adopted a similar structure to the group, organising cells, oaths of secrecy, and different levels of membership. He joined the Mattachine Society, one of the earliest gay rights organisations in the United States, which was founded by Harry Hay in 1950 and headquartered in Los Angeles. This did not stop Roberts from uniting with activists. Deemed subversive, the film was blacklisted over alleged ties to Communism. Shortly after graduating from USC, he took a job as music editor on Salt of the Earth, a 1954 Neorealist film about Mexican-American miners fighting for decent working conditions. Working the McCarthy Era, Roberts understood the dangers of government persecution. I assumed there were two reasons: I had worked on Salt of the Earth and because I was gay.”
I didn’t pass the security clearance, obviously. He told Clamp, “I was right in the middle of directing a film when I went to the office and was told to leave the building immediately. While working for a large aircraft manufacturer in San Diego, Roberts was fired without cause. “At the same time, he was cautious and understood some of the dangers of being out.” “He didn’t have any hang ups about being an openly gay man,” Clamp says. Many of the models became lovers, others became friends, some became roommates, while others simply came and went. Each image has a simple scenario: the biker pausing en route, hitchhikers on the side of the road, a quick dip in the pool, and surfers on the dunes. “There is a narrative aspect to his work that you could attribute to storytelling and moving film,” says Brian Paul Clamp, gallerist, who represented Roberts in the final years of his life. He began publishing his work in Young Physique magazine in 1963, offering light and fun pictures made on day trips to picturesque towns like Yosemite, Idlewild, and La Jolla. Eschewing the classic bodybuilder archetype popularised by Bruce of Los Angeles and Bob Mizer, Roberts preferred the boy-next-door aesthetic.
THE VAULT OF BRACCUS REX ARCHIVE
From the 1950s until 1981, he amassed an archive of 50,000 photographs of almost 200 male models. Inspiration struck and Roberts set forth to create a portrait of fun in the sun, California style.
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