He-Man Inspired 'Skeletor Saves!' Event To Raise Money For The Ali Forney Center (PHOTOS)
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The Ali Forney Center, a New York organization that helps homeless LBGT youth by providing housing, could use some support of its own.
"Cuomo's budget cuts haven't affected us yet, but they will," says Wil Fisher, Director of Communications and Special Events at the Center. "In general the government has been pulling back a lot of its support and so we're looking to the community to keep our houses open."
And by the power of Grayskull, it looks like they may have found some help.
"I'm a huge He-man fan, but truly a Skeletor Fan," says David Mason who, along with Brian Moylan of Gawker, and fashion writer and artist Bradford Shellhammer, is curating the "Skeletor Saves" show at Headquarters Studios in Soho this Thursday- a collective charity event that invites artists to auction off work inspired by the 80's television cartoon series He-Man and The Masters Of The Universe. All proceeds will go to the Ali Forney Center. "They were my favorite toys as a kid and Skeletor is my personal hero, so I thought the subject matter would be a great source for artists to base work off of."
And Mason's right- the theme has prompted artists across the country to reimagine all the Masters characters- including Skeletor, the blue, muscular humanoid who wears a purple hood over a yellow skull, wants desperately to conquer the universe and is He-Man's evil archenemy.
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The work ranges from a pretty black and white sketch of She-Ra to an elaborate scene of Skeletor seducing He-Man. According to the submissions page on the website, "This work can be based on ANYTHING from this world. The characters themselves, the castles, vehicles, story lines, etc. Work can be anything you see fit, photography, paintings, architectural drawings, fashion sketches, sculpture."
Many of the portraits already submitted portray the characters with an LGBT twist (and often in risque poses). The show has even attracted the work of big names such as Helmut Lang and Marc Jacobs.
And it's all for the city's homeless LGBT youth.
"I felt that the Ali Forney center was a very deserving charity," says Mason,"and as a gay guy myself I feel it's my duty to look after my own kind, nobody else will and that's why there are kids out on the street."
It might be the most impressive thing Skeletor's done outside Eternia.
The show is on April 7th from 7pm-10pm and is sponsored by Aaron Cobbett, Slick It Up and Veev. You can find more info and check out the work that will be up for auction at the Skeletor Saves website.
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The Huffington Post Christopher Mathias First Posted: 04/05/11 01:58 PM ET Updated: 06/05/11 06:12 AM ET