Amused at being called an Atlanta ‘power gay couple,’ they’re into art of networking

David, 63, first played around with photography when he was in his early 20s. It was at the beginning of the AIDS crisis and he mostly photographed protests. When his partner at the time grew ill, however, he began taking care of him and put photography aside. He didn’t pick it back up again until he was 50 years old.

When David was laid off at age 60 from a procurement job at financial software company Sage, he had to figure out what was next. He’d been active in running a little photo business on the side and, three years ago, he took a position with Alan Avery Art Company as the assistant gallery director to bring in a paycheck and learn more about the gallery system. Nine months into that stint, David accepted the executive director job at Atlanta Photography Group when the previous director had to step down for health reasons.

Growing up, David’s only exposure to high-end photography was poring over the pages of magazines such as GQ and Vogue. Photographers such as Annie Leibovitz, Herb Ritts, Jess T. Dugan, Richard Renaldi and Tyler Mitchell were also influential. Initially David took pictures of himself but when he grew tired of that he moved on to photographing his friends and found he had a knack for capturing visually appealing photographs.

Today, his calling card is portraiture. “More and more I want to use people and put them in narratives — people in their home and other environments,” he said.

When one of David’s prints was purchased by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia in 2018, he realized that he needed to start teaching himself what it meant to a professional artist. “That changed the trajectory of what I was doing,” he says, and foreshadowed what was to come.

Billy, 68, followed a similar path to self-discovery. Throughout his life, Billy worked in landscape architecture and then kitchen design at Home Depot. He had been watching and learning from his husband when he retired last year. Unexpectedly, Billy got his start as an artist when he accompanied David on a business trip to Barcelona. While David was taking pictures Billy was looking to entertain himself.

“If you are the husband of a photographer, you have a lot of time,” Billy laughed. He was doodling on his iPhone and David suggested he could make art that way.

Credit: Photo by David Clifton-Strawn

Credit: Photo by David Clifton-Strawn

That initial spark was five years ago, and David later gifted him an iPad Pro. Billy used it to create digital artworks using photography, in which he would take pictures of patterns and manipulate them into abstract pieces. Shortly thereafter, Billy landed a solo show at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church’s gallery of his floral work. Encouraged by the experience, he forged ahead.

Since Billy is not steady with paint brushes and pencils, the digital format allows him more capabilities. “Because of how smooth it is on the iPad or on the drawing program, it helps me get to cleaner lines. It also helps manipulate things and make them larger or smaller. In collage, I can create my own world and realms.”

Picasso, Joan Miro and Dali are among the artists Billy admires, while pop culture figures such Peter Max and Andy Warhol also inspire him. “What I am trying to do with my art is do abstracts in those styles but not duplicate what they do, bring some of those elements into the work. People are always confused with digital art, but what I am trying to achieve is to elevate what I am doing to the fine art level and build installations and gallery shows.”

It was nine years ago, just after Christmas Day, that the two had their first date. David jokes that they connected the “old fashioned” way — online. They had been communicating on a couple of different sites and decided to meet for coffee. That date lasted all day, and the two men felt like they had known each other for a while.

“There’s something about meeting people at a certain age when you’ve had a lot of life experience and you’re comfortable with yourself and know what you want — and what you don’t want. This felt … easy,” said David.

Billy knew that David was a catch. “In my mind, when I saw him, met him and started talking to him, I said to myself ‘I can’t let this one get away.’” They got married the following year.

Credit: Photo courtesy of David Clifton-Strawn

Credit: Photo courtesy of David Clifton-Strawn

One Clifton-Strawn house rule is that the two never offer unsolicited opinions to each other. Getting feedback, though, is different. “If I am prepping and trying to figure out what images I should be submitting or if I am trying to make a choice between things, I definitely take [what Billy says] under advisement,” says David. “It’s fine-tuning.”

There’s been no overt intersection of their work, but they’ve found ways to collaborate. Billy created a piece of art that David later used as a backdrop for several photo shoots. During the COVID-19 pandemic, David dragged Billy to the studio and used him as his model. The resulting portrait of Billy wearing a stack of rainbow-colored sunglasses on his head later traveled to a Chicago exhibition.

Using queer themes in their work has been important professionally and personally for the pair. David’s 2024 exhibition at Alan Avery Art Company, “ECCE HOMO,” which delved into masculinity, is one example.

“Photography that involves communities is strongest when it is told by somebody that is part of that community, as opposed to someone coming in from the outside,” says David. “Documenting my community has been important to me for visibility. In response to political and social situations that are going on where I feel like when there is a push to stifle, I want to make my world even more queer.”

The two are known as a power couple in the arts world and in the Atlanta LGBTQ community. They’re an active, omnipresent pair who attend one to four openings or art events per week.

“I think we are out there in the community, circulating, are fairly high profile and active on social media and always networking,” says David. “Our hands are in a lot of pies. The idea of us as a power gay couple pops up sometimes and I think it’s funny.”

Finding their current level of success has been unexpected, says Billy.

David knew when he got into photography that it would lead somewhere, but he had no idea what capacity. At Atlanta Photography Group, he is responsible for the management of the organization, writing grants, expanding and diversifying membership, creating the exhibition and educational calendar and executing those events for some 20 exhibitions each year.

“Most working artists I know all have a day gig as well,” David said, “but to end up working as an arts administrator and have an art career — I never saw that.”

Both men are recipients of the Emerging Artist Award from the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs — David won in 2022-2023 and Billy in 2023-2024. They’ve both had shows at the Art Institute of Atlanta and have been accepted at the annual Pride exhibition at Coca-Cola’s headquarters. Billy has a residency in Central Library through July and his new show with fellow artist Callahan McDonough “Digital Duet” continues through June 30 at Gallery 72 in downtown Atlanta.

Credit: ArtsATL

Credit: ArtsATL

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