Art Bezrukavenko is that twink who’s not afraid to go up to strange guys and ask them things like, “How long do you think the top should last?” “How would you rate me out of 10?” and “Tell me the story of how you met.” With almost a million followers on TikTok, he knows how to make his subjects feel comfortable, and how to ever-so-lightly titillate his gay followers.
Born in the small town of Dobropillya in East Ukraine, Bezrukavenko left his homeland in 2014 at the age of 17, after Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula. He lived in Warsaw, Poland, and then Chicago, Los Angeles and Austin before settling in New York City in 2021. After his move to the U.S., he gained attention with a Polish-language YouTube channel about life in America, mixed with some comedy and lip syncing. When he came out as gay on TikTok in December 2020, his social-media career blew up—three hours after posting, he had clocked half a million views. He quit his day job as a waiter and went all in on being a TikTok sensation, a career that now sees him zipping around the world looking for his next victim, er, subject.
Actually, Bezrukavenko’s schtick does not involve making fun of his interviewees, which are usually, but not always, gay men he finds outside clubs or at gay events or in the streets of gay neighbourhoods. When he meets straight guys, he’ll often offer them money to kiss each other.
For his TikTok, Bezrukavenko is looking for a large population of friendly gays who don’t mind having a flirty chat about sex and love with a stranger—which is what many of us are looking for when we travel. So we have to rate him a 10 out of 10 for his travel advice and his recommendations of where to visit.
How did you come up with this thing that you do on TikTok?
It’s been a long process. I only started doing it a year ago, after doing social media for three years. I was in the closet, and I was thinking about why I thought about being gay as a negative thing when I see a lot of people live through it and thrive in it. I used to interview people in Central Park, tourists from all over the world, but I got tired of it because I didn’t feel very present in the interviews. After I came out, I felt like there was not enough content for gay people; I saw a niche there that could be fun.
How do you find people who will talk to you?
I’m not going to lie—the first 10 times I went out to film, I’d had two or three drinks because I was scared. It’s scary, you know? But I’ll tell you the secret. So when I just started, I was getting probably 60 percent of the people I tried to talk to me. But it evolved, so basically I just kind of feel the energy of people who are passing by—if they look at me when they pass me, I can tell if they’re going to do it. You can just feel it. Sometimes gay people can be pretentious—when I see a super hot guy walking in a super confident way, the majority of the time, he will say no. But in places where they know about my videos, it’s really easy, 90 percent successful. When I went to West Hollywood Pride, people came up to me asking to do it. I’m not trying to make fun of people, like putting them on the spot, asking if they know where a country is or something. I don’t want to make people look dumb. I have genuine curiosity about what they have to say. I feel like this is the secret.
You spend a lot of time in Provincetown, Massachusetts. What do you like about it?
I never really travel just for enjoyment because I mostly travel to film. So I rate places on how good the gay neighbourhoods are. You go to a big city like New York and they’re going to have a lot of gay people. But the problem is that they’re all spread out, all at different clubs and in different parts of the city. When you go to a place like Provincetown, especially when it’s a busy weekend, everyone is in the same spot. Everything is a 10-minute walk. Everybody is on the same program, going to the Boatslip Resort & Beach Club (161 Commercial St., Provincetown) tea dance from four to seven, then dinner, then the bars—and they have a good number of bars. The atmosphere is cozy, and it’s a resort town so people are there to be open and meet people. I’m not a beach person, but I really like it there.
I usually stay at my friend’s boyfriend’s house, so I don’t have a hotel recommendation. The tea dance is my favourite thing. Purgatory (Gifford House, 9 Carver St., Provincetown) is kind of a leather bar with different themed parties, so I like that. I like Jimmy’s HideAway (179 Commercial St., Provincetown), which has American food like pasta and veal. Aqua Bar (207 Commercial St., Provincetown) has cocktails and you can buy a lobster roll or oysters from one of the vendors there and eat it at the bar.
Why is Chicago so close to your heart?
Chicago has one of the best gay villages. People are more down to earth in Chicago, less pretentious. Los Angeles has West Hollywood, which is similar, but tourists are there all the time—I’ve never seen so many people who want to get in front of the camera. Everybody in L.A. says yes when I ask for an interview, but then you’ll have their friends or passersby trying to get into the shot when I’m trying to focus on one person. In Chicago, they’re more relaxed. You have Boystown (Northalsted) on Halsted Street and Broadway Street—there’s a lot of bars there all in one place, and good restaurants, too. The best food that I eat—it’s in Chicago.
I used to work at Angelina Ristorante (3561 N. Broadway St., Chicago), but my unbiased opinion is that it’s very good. They do Italian, pasta and seafood, but they also do brunch. Chicken Hut (3200 N. Broadway St., Chicago) has delicious chicken that you can have with a side like corn. It’s essential.
For bars, I’m very basic and I’m very loyal to the same spots. I like Roscoe’s Tavern (3356 N. Halsted St., Chicago), which is one of the best bars anywhere. It’s a good mix of people who are there to dance, drink and have fun. In good weather, they have a patio. The place is pretty big. I like the music. The problem with the U.S. scene compared to Europe is that the techno music is all the same. If you’re not on drugs and you just want to dance and sing along, it’s hard to find a place. But the music is good at Roscoe’s. There’s also Hydrate (3458 N. Halsted St., Chicago) for dancing, and if you want to see some strippers, the Lucky Horseshoe Lounge (3169 N. Halsted St., Chicago).
I’m not a big fan of bathhouses, but Steamworks Baths (3246 North Halsted St., Chicago) is one of the biggest in the country—I think people should go there at least once.
You’ve fallen in love with Amsterdam.
I’ve recently been to Spain, which is good because I like the culture, but there it’s hard to do what I do because most people only speak Spanish. For interviews, Amsterdam is the closest thing to the U.S. for me. It’s people from different places all over the world who speak English and they want to interact, so you don’t feel isolated. And there are a lot of hot guys in Amsterdam, not going to lie, they are very attractive.
I’ve been there for Pride month and LGBTQ+ flags were everywhere. You see all kinds of people—women, men, straights, older—who seem genuinely happy for Pride. I’ve been to New York Pride, WeHo Pride, Tampa Pride, and I’ve never seen anything like what happens in Amsterdam. And they have good music. I was on one of the boats in the parade. I would recommend if you have a chance in your life to go to Amsterdam Pride, it’s one of the most fulfilling experiences you can have.
Amsterdam has this street, Reguliersdwarsstraat, which is the gay street, and it has lots of bars like in Northalsted in Chicago. My favourite is Soho (Reguliersdwarsstraat 36, Amsterdam), which is a very good bar, with lots of shows, themed nights. It’s two floors and they also have this—which is something I think every club should have—they have this Instagram picture frame hanging there so you can go in the frame and take a selfie. And the biggest bonus in Soho is that they have very, very good music—I don’t feel like I’m at a circuit party. One piece of advice for Amsterdam: be prepared that with every single restroom, you’re going to pay one euro to go inside, which I find very unique.
What are some of your travel hacks?
I wish I could afford business class more often. And I’m afraid of turbulence, so I’m going to pay any amount of money not to sit in the back. That’s my tip: if you’re afraid of turbulence, don’t sit in the back. But to be honest, I’m not a very good traveller in terms of packing. I always try to be minimalistic, to have only one suitcase, no matter how many weeks I’m going for. I only start packing two hours before I have to leave the apartment because I’m not organized—I don’t like to start packing earlier because then I start to get excited about leaving.
Where are you headed to next?
Los Angeles. I don’t really want to travel much now because I took 22 trips last year. It’s kind of exhausted me. I’m going to do more stuff in New York because, in terms of collaborations, New York and Los Angeles are the best places for me.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
