Bill Costa was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, and raised in Gloucester, Massachusetts—an important fishing port and artist colony. He showed artistic promise at an early age and studied drawing with a local artist and then at the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He turned to photography after leaving a successful corporate career, and had his first show in New York City in 1975. Costa’s photographs have been featured in many magazines, and he has mounted numerous exhibitions across the United States and Europe.
Bill Costa (1944-1995)
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John Sex -
Embracing the Slab -
He Was a Kind of Jewel Which His Tears and Pain Hardened Until It Sparkled -
Untitled (Nude Male Standing in Front of Window from Behind) -
Jeune Homme -
Jonathan -
The Rose Bush was Attached to the Wall by Rusty Nails. Its Leaves Were Gleaming and the Flowers Had All the Tints of Flesh. -
His Icy, Impassive Gaze Looked At Nothing in the World -
The Sight Was so Beautiful That if Anyone Had Tried to Photograph Him, the Plate Would Have Registered Only a Rose -
Dreaming is Nursed in Darkness -
The Crucifix -
I Understand Why God Needs an Angel, Which He Calls a Messenger, to Carry Out Certain Missions Which He Himself Is Unable To. -
The Gardener is the Loveliest Rose in his Garden -
Robert [Wearing Top Hat] -
To Swallow a Photo of Him the Way One Swallows the Eucharist -
When I See Him Lying Naked I Want to Say Mass on his Chest -
To Be Embraced by the Calm, Splended Stature of a Man of Stone With Sharp Angles -
Abandoned on My Bed, Naked Polished, He Will Be an Instrument of Torture -
Boy by Waterfall -
Edwardo -
Frank in the Country: New York -
He Felt Deeply Grateful to Those Who Brought Him Peace by Dominating Him -
He Worked Cruelly and Hard on That Flesh -
His Torso Was Delicate Despite Its Hardness -
I Am the Sentinel at the Gate of the Sleep of Others -
I Am the Spirit That Hovers Above the Shapeless Mass of Dreams -
Joshua II -
Kevin -
Men with the Tenderest Flesh are Made of Marble -
My Heart Awoke and at Once My Body Thawed -
No Other Robe Than His Splendor -
Untitled -
What Glorious Workmenship It All Is, Each Curl of His Hair, Each Muscle, the Eyes, the Ears (#2) -
Palace of Flesh -
Sean -
St. John – The Youngest Apostle and the Deciple Whome Jesus Loved -
The Noblest Metal Is That Which Goes Through the Fire Most Often -
The Organ of Touch -
They Stripped Him and Put on Him a Scarlet Rob[e] -
To Have a Private Conversation With the Creatures of the Night -
Untitled #3 -
Untitled #4 -
What Glorious Workmanship -
What Dazzling Revenge His Entire Body Takes, in the Glory of Its Motion -
Kevin -
Photo Portrait of John Heys -
Bill Costa, “He Exudes a Powerful Fragrance Like Horses Do” -
The Apsara, NYC -
Untitled (Leopard Lady) -
Untitled (Bandana Boy) -
Untitled (Beach Promenade) -
Untitled (Lying on Towel) -
Untitled (Boy on Beach with Football) -
Untitled (Boy on Beach) -
Untitled (Two Men) -
Bill Costa | Untitled (Rollerena Fairy Godmother) -
Untitled (The Queen Rollerena and her Scepter)
-
John Sex -
Embracing the Slab -
He Was a Kind of Jewel Which His Tears and Pain Hardened Until It Sparkled -
Untitled (Nude Male Standing in Front of Window from Behind) -
Jeune Homme -
Jonathan -
The Rose Bush was Attached to the Wall by Rusty Nails. Its Leaves Were Gleaming and the Flowers Had All the Tints of Flesh. -
His Icy, Impassive Gaze Looked At Nothing in the World -
The Sight Was so Beautiful That if Anyone Had Tried to Photograph Him, the Plate Would Have Registered Only a Rose -
Dreaming is Nursed in Darkness -
The Crucifix -
I Understand Why God Needs an Angel, Which He Calls a Messenger, to Carry Out Certain Missions Which He Himself Is Unable To. -
The Gardener is the Loveliest Rose in his Garden -
Robert [Wearing Top Hat] -
To Swallow a Photo of Him the Way One Swallows the Eucharist -
When I See Him Lying Naked I Want to Say Mass on his Chest -
To Be Embraced by the Calm, Splended Stature of a Man of Stone With Sharp Angles -
Abandoned on My Bed, Naked Polished, He Will Be an Instrument of Torture -
Boy by Waterfall -
Edwardo -
Frank in the Country: New York -
He Felt Deeply Grateful to Those Who Brought Him Peace by Dominating Him -
He Worked Cruelly and Hard on That Flesh -
His Torso Was Delicate Despite Its Hardness -
I Am the Sentinel at the Gate of the Sleep of Others -
I Am the Spirit That Hovers Above the Shapeless Mass of Dreams -
Joshua II -
Kevin -
Men with the Tenderest Flesh are Made of Marble -
My Heart Awoke and at Once My Body Thawed -
No Other Robe Than His Splendor -
Untitled -
What Glorious Workmenship It All Is, Each Curl of His Hair, Each Muscle, the Eyes, the Ears (#2) -
Palace of Flesh -
Sean -
St. John – The Youngest Apostle and the Deciple Whome Jesus Loved -
The Noblest Metal Is That Which Goes Through the Fire Most Often -
The Organ of Touch -
They Stripped Him and Put on Him a Scarlet Rob[e] -
To Have a Private Conversation With the Creatures of the Night -
Untitled #3 -
Untitled #4 -
What Glorious Workmanship -
What Dazzling Revenge His Entire Body Takes, in the Glory of Its Motion -
Kevin -
Photo Portrait of John Heys -
Bill Costa, “He Exudes a Powerful Fragrance Like Horses Do” -
The Apsara, NYC -
Untitled (Leopard Lady) -
Untitled (Bandana Boy) -
Untitled (Beach Promenade) -
Untitled (Lying on Towel) -
Untitled (Boy on Beach with Football) -
Untitled (Boy on Beach) -
Untitled (Two Men) -
Bill Costa | Untitled (Rollerena Fairy Godmother) -
Untitled (The Queen Rollerena and her Scepter)
