Alex Needham

‘I can’t wait to paint myself when I’m old and knobbly’: the sensual world of Louis Fratino

Alexandra Bircken started out in fashion but ended up making art out of everything from carved-up car engines to gimp suits and bits of her body. The German artist reveals how her fascinations began

His band, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ruled the charts in the 1980s with their libidinous, unapologetically queer songs. Then he was told he had months to live. As a new exhibition celebrates Johnson’s art and influence, he tells the hidden story

Having rocked queer clubs to their foundations, Wet Mess is now electrifying Edinburgh with a show about testosterone and a stunning new take on drag

A dazzling account of the dreamers and divas who brought a queer sensibility to culture – and changed lives in the process

Busted for cruising in an LA toilet, he proudly turned his police documents into art. Now the Californian is bringing Being Alone – his elegant hymn to anonymous hookups – to Venice and London

From Gold Lion winner Archie Moore to Brazilians the Tupinambá collective, First Nations artists are making their voices heard at ‘the Olympics of art’. They talk hammocks, hunting and human connection

Why are there almost no tears in great works of art? Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli is rectifying this – by embroidering balloon-shaped drops on to modern mashups of Giotto and Botticelli

He only published one book – and it was hardly noticed. Now his portraits of drag queens, poets and artists are seen as vital documents of a vanished world. As they go on show, the photographer’s favourite subjects recall his genius

The life and untimely death of Keith Haring, whose work burst with vitality and warmth