Bear Artist Brent D. Marr

From our archives – Back in 2008, we had the chance to sit down with Brent. He was Mr. Oregon Cub 2007, lived in Portland, OR and is an artist.

TheCompleteBear:  Did you always want to be artist?

Brent: From early on I was always sketching the usual kid-type stuff, superheroes, dinosaurs, and the like. But even then I was shading in my coloring books with a pencil rather than using crayons. As I grew older I got more and more into comic book art and eventually started creating my own characters and stories.

TheCompleteBear: What attracts you to a model?

Brent: I’m always looking for “the guy next door”, I’ve over the years had crushes on bus drivers, store clerks, teachers, my dentist, and a few of my Moms boyfriends. None of them were ever body building muscle hunks or any one you might see on TV. But there is an amazing sensuality in that.

TheCompleteBear: Do you have a favorite model?

Brent: Yes, His name is Troy I’ve actually done a few pieces with him as a subject. Unfortunately (for me) he’s gone and got himself hitched and doesn’t share anymore.

TheCompleteBear: How has the bear and leather communities influenced your body of work?

Brent: In 2005 I was sitting on the patio of one of Portland’s favorite hang outs minding my own business sketching a picture of a Bear couple in a passionate embrace that I found on the internet. When the Oregon Bears President approached me about doing some artwork for Oregon’s annual Bear-run event; Beartown. I’ve contributed to the advertising and t-shirts for the event every year since, but that experience is what really spurred my on to try to get my work out there and be seen. I really owe it all to the Oregon Bears.

TheCompleteBear: There are a lot of homoerotic elements to your work, as well as you are often featured in gay publications – how has this impacted you as an artist?

Brent: Mostly I think it has taught me that I should draw what I feel is sexy or erotic rather than what I think other people will find attractive, I seem to have much greater success that way.

TheCompleteBear: How/when did you begin working in the fetish scene? What attracts you to this genre as an artist?

Brent: I found a picture in a soft-porn mag that I thought was very sexy, so I sat down and started to draw it (prior to that I had only worked in comic book art). I was fairly pleased with my progress but before it was finished I put it away. About a year later I moved to Portland and showed it to a friend of mine who informed me that the subject was a local bartender names Eric, so I finished it and took it to show him. He loved it and bought it on the spot! It’s hard to describe, but I think it was his reaction and the reactions of others who enjoy my work that make me want to keep growing and evolving in this area as an artist.

TheCompleteBear: If you had the opportunity to drawn anyone (living or dead), who would you like to model for you?

Brent: The guy that installed the cable TV this spring, WOOF!

TheCompleteBear: Do you have a favorite piece?

Brent: The one titled “Afternoon Nap” just makes me wanna jump on!

TheCompleteBear: What new projects are in the works?

Brent: Now that my year as Mr. Oregon Cub is over, I have several personal and community projects I’m dying to get started

TheCompleteBear: If our readers are interested in learning more about you and your work – where can they find more info?

Brent: At this point my website is the best source , I’m hoping to soon, put together a book of my collective works and include a narrative about the pieces as you page through the images.