Rough Trades

A video synopsis of REX's Rough Trade paperback illustration work — nine volumes of homoerotic art published between 1972 and 1985 under pseudonymous authors. Each book featured original pen-and-ink illustrations by REX depicting explicit male encounters in leather, blue-collar, and street settings.

Before his death, REX had begun exploring the possibility of animating his static illustrations. This video is an early realization of that vision — 62 original Rough Trade drawings brought to life using WAN 2.6 generative image-to-video AI. The drawings were a natural fit for animation: bold linework, strong compositions, and figures caught mid-gesture.

The result is presented in wheat-toned monochrome, echoing the aged pulp paper of the original paperbacks.

Browse Rough Trade →

Full reel coming soon