From the Archives...

Official Bob Paris (c) all rights reserved

SOUTHERN EXCURSION

August 1995

Seattle

“The depth of my belief in the power of bodybuilding grew out of my desires as an artist. I pretended that I wanted grand success as an athlete in some traditional sport, but only because that was what I believed was the right thing to feel. Great athletes were the good guys and rewarded with adulation and wealth. Artists generally tended to struggle. When I discovered bodybuilding, I knew—with the sort of instinct that reveals itself in rare moments—that I could have both. I could be the artist I’d always dreamed of being and I could be a jock and exert my physical presence in a way that would demonstrate to all the world that I was truly a man. I could have taken no other sport as far as I did this one. It is misunderstood, underappreciated , corrupted by petty greed, and considered to be the realm of freaks, but it is also beautiful and thrilling and lifted high above the dull thud of conformity.” 

Excerpted from:

GORILLA SUIT by Bob Paris © (ISBN 0-312-16855-1) 

Photo by John Balik, 1983.© Bob Paris all rights reserved