Matthew Monthei is a DC-area artist who explores masculinity and sexuality with needle and thread.

What started as cheeky cross stitched designs about beards and boners to show off on Tumblr in 2011 quickly led to an Etsy shop, Beefcake Craft Arcade. Played more for unexpected amusement than anything else, those stitches focused on self-aware, sometimes spastic, and often self-deprecating-disguised-as-sexy “masculine” topics (Beards! Boners! Butts! Balls!), presented in a traditionally feminine craft stitched by a fellow of the male persuasion.

When the opportunity rose to participate in the Stitch Fetish gallery show in Los Angeles, his work began to evolve into bigger concepts with unexpected presentations, while staying true to the saucy humor and self-aware wit that has shaped his work from the beginning. But he doesn’t do it alone: many of his pieces are created with the help of social media (The Send Nudes Project, Slide Into My DMs, #JOCKSTITCH), queer history (XXX: A Brief History of Gay Porn Films 1971-2016), vintage gay erotica (Sacrament, Boys on Film, The Fabric of Our Lives, The Ramble), and music (Song of Myself, The Devil in the Details).

For inquiries, please contact Matthew at BeefcakeCraftArcade@gmail.com or click the “Contact” tab at the top of this page.