Genderfluid actor and visionary artist Harry Hains was best known for roles on American Horror Story and The OA, but ANTIBOY (as Harry was known as an artist & was a representation of a genderless transhuman) was a complete rejection of any labels whatsoever. In a time in our country where both systemic racism and inequality in our justice system continues, Harry was the type of artist to continue these conversations. Sadly, the current epidemic affected Hains directly, who passed away from a drug overdose this past January.
Hains’ brother Sam Hains has taken up the reigns of Harry’s career and delivering that message in the most lush and gorgeous way possible. Hains is an ED artist and designer, who has created a stunning video for the single ‘Paradise’ that is based on Harry’s vision for the future of our world, free of any constructs.
‘Paradise’, in the video is almost a video game of sorts; you can experience paradise, but as a cost. Additionally, the song was released in conjunction with ClubQuarantine x ANTIBOY ‘s Welcome To Paradise Rave, a virtual celebration and safe space for queer creatives to authentically and truly themselves. It was hosted by Markus Molinari and included LGBT advocates like Gigi Gorgeous, Brendan Jordan, and Luna Lovebad
Sam spoke with me exclusively about his brother saying “Harry started his journey with modeling and acting and doing more multi-disciplinary work & it was probably around a similar time that we both started getting into a more art practice style. What was interesting is that we were both dealing with very similar conceptual material and had a lot of interest in the worlds of science fiction and virtual worlds. We both had similar early childhood experiences of video games like World of Warcraft and Second Life, which both of us found extraordinary – this idea of being in another world as another person, assuming an avatar and exploring a world anonymously and the liberation of that; being free from a body. It blew both of our minds as 12-year-olds to be able to experience virtual worlds like that. Both of us ended up creating work that was about that and escape worlds that are glitching and falling apart. When we hadn’t spoken for a while, and started talking about the work we were doing, it was like “wow, you’re also making work about this kind of thing.” There was a different focus as Harry’s was more about these relationships that were central to the work, but there were these shared themes of these worlds that were falling apart. There was this metaphor of these virtual worlds and how reality itself is a dream or a simulation and that the virtual world is an interesting way of exploring reality and that there’s something not quite right about it. That was something that I was definitely exploring in my work and then Harry was also doing that too in the Glitch in Paradise pilot that he wrote. I think it was really curious that we were both kind of interested in that sort of idea.”
Stream ‘Paradise’ on all streaming services
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