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Tuesday 22 October 2019

The Art of TooBoShoo

TooBoShoo - Discipline
This unusual image showing a bondage milking scene is drawn in the traditional Japanese manner but it's actually by a Chinese artist who calls himself TooBoShoo. (*see my footnote on names). The idea of tying a man up and relieving him of his semen pretty much sums up the bondage fetish but the ritualistic manner of the bondage here and presence of a priestly milker with respectful acolyte introduces mystical and slightly menacing overtones. 

The meaning of the title is not obvious, perhaps it's suggesting that the captive is also a member of the religious order, who has fallen from grace. He has a notably chunky build, however, which makes me wonder if he's a local villager, the blacksmith perhaps, or a passing traveller who has been detained to confess his sins! Presumably the fruit of his loins is destined for some sort of communion ceremony.

You can speculate about the technique they have used to elevate their helpless subject, is it the rope harness hitched to the tree or a devious utilisation of one of those sawn-off branch stubs we can see further up? Restraining both his arms and his legs behind the tree trunk accentuates his helplessness and also his vulnerability by opening up the front of his body. You can see the humiliation and dismay in his face.

TooBoShoo - Milk Tech
There's a similar theme here given a sci-fi twist. Despite the absence of any sort of exposed flesh there's an interesting erotic contrast between the burly donor and the clean-shaven, salivating milkman. It focuses attention on the mechanics of the ceremony and the control situation which is going on here, one that is rather more subtle than the previous example. As before the provider is restrained in an elevated position but he also is wearing a face mask. We do not know whether the mask provides a supply of performance enhancing gas or whether it is intended as a kind of breathing control device (with similar aims). 

There's a neatness and completeness about this composition which is very pleasing. If you visit the link given below you will find more explicit variations of this theme but they feature fantasy furry human/animals which aren't my bag but the erotics are worth a look.
 
TooBoShoo - Fighting
There's a touch of the fantastic in this image too with sci-fi buildings, mysterious forces in evidence and an assailant wearing barbarian, S&M-style accessories. The man he is groping though is very human and down to earth indeed, a workman type of character with muscle-masculine credentials. Those qualities makes his reduction to being another man's plaything doubly erotic.

I'm sure many of my readers will love the milking technique, jerking off inside the underwear resulting in cum-sodden material which is going to give this man an awkward and uncomfortable aftermath to deal with. Others, like him, may squirm at this earthiness. I can't say I have seen this situation depicted before, modern computer graphics can capture the translucent, wet underwear very well. Once again there's a compelling simplicity about this image.
 
TooBoShoo - Wrestling
TooBoShoo also takes his interest in men milking men into the wrestling arena, he calls it cum wrestling and it's a sport that he's made many images of. You will gather from the referee's pose in this scene, that ejaculation constitutes either a foul or a defeat. Either way, it's obviously a great embarrassment. 

There's a really good expression of energy and strength in the two wrestlers combat. I particularly like the hooked foot ploy which is preventing a defensive closing of the legs. There's potentially an even more dramatic picture if you imagine the other legs entangled in the same way and the two men toppling forward at the moment of climax. There's also some interesting portrayals in the supporting cast, who are watching around the mat. A clue to this artist's wider skills which we will see below. 

TooBoShoo - Commission
 That dynamic sense of brute forces colliding is even more evident here, supplemented by the proverbial brick wall in an image of two husky rugby players tackling each other. Even without the sexual element, this is a powerful and striking impression of a tough sport. The rugby scenario is a natural one for this artist's chunky characters and as a fan of rugby players myself, the conjunction of  shorts and muscular thighs is a delight. With the Rugby World Cup presently in progress in Japan it's also an highly appropriate image for me to include.

TooBoShoo - Santa 2018
 I know, I know it's not even Halloween yet! 
I don't usually 'do' Christmas anyway in this blog but this image is worth including in it's own right. It's has similar qualities to the previous ones, lauding masculine strength and power with a more than usually fit Santa dragging his heavy sleigh up a steep slope though deep snow. You can feel his pain! By some good fortune, the mishap that deprived him of his reindeer also destroyed most of his usual, camp, fur-trimmed outfit leaving him with just a pair of sexy, tattered, ass-clinging shorts and a bobble cap. There's some interesting presents on his sleigh if you look and the Disney-esque snowy trees are brilliant.

TooBoShoo - Christmas Eve
This depiction of Christmas is quite different and invokes some of the sentiment of Christmas domestics and home-comings in Hollywood movies like 'It's a Wonderful Life'. One of these men has been working as a Santa and it's a modest apartment, so you sense they are not wealthy. Though they are engrossed in their own mundane tasks there's a great sense of togetherness, calm and warmth as they prepare for the holiday ahead, one made extra special by the snow falling outside.  A marvellously understated expression of gay kinship and love, it's quite, quite beautiful.

TooBoShoo - 360 (degrees) Click to expand
You should be getting a sense of this artist's remarkable skills by now and this image extends it even further. At first sight it seems like some sort of medical facility but closer inspection shows that the patients are in fact restrained by chains and ropes and there's an ominous wheel on the side of one of the tables. It's mildly erotic with a particularly interesting bare top muscleman attending to the naked client on the right.

Some of the attendants here are clad in modern protective clothing, others look as if they have stepped out of a medieval pageant. Even Death seems to be here, stalking in the far background. The curious inversion of perspective creates an impression that this pseudo-medical torture chamber is a miniature world to it's inhabitants and the light of freedom and life is far away down a narrow passageway.

Whilst this artist often depicts fantastical scenes, the grey scale colouring and sombre atmosphere here communicates a more serious intent, I believe. A message that oppression never changes and it's suffocating. I'm not knowledgeable enough to truly understand how this applies to China, but I know artistic freedom there is at best a fragile one, I think it's also true of gay freedom, although ancient China was tolerant. You might like to revisit the 'Christmas Eve' picture in the light of this. Even if I don't fully understand it, credit to the artist for making his statement. Like the Russian artist Bubentkov I featured last year TooBoShoo deserves our moral support.


TooBoShoo - Kang
 It's hard to tell if this is playful, sexual frolicking or something more serious, ambiguity seems to be the continuing theme of this artists work. The mischievous cat outside and lucky cat toy inside don't help very much. The title seems to simply refer to a platform bed used in China.

It does look though as if this man is being beaten and the vegetable dildo is derogatory in intent. The implement on the right may be part of his punishment. I haven't a clue about the red rope, although internet searches throw up exotic, erotic connections.

There's a distinctive local flavour in the styling of this piece, the patterns of the bed and windows
 and the objects scattered around.

TooBoShoo - Stop You Jerk
Lastly, another great, but less serious image. I love the physique of this hunky patient (dressed only in his ankle tag!) but it's his energetic resistance that makes the image so memorable, while Doctor's calm domination is also beautifully depicted. The close-up framing gives extra emphasis to the mini-drama going on on the table, it adds sensual intimacy to the erotic message (contrast with the lesser impact of 'Kanga' above)

Literally translated by Google, the artists inscription for this picture is 
"Stop, you are a jerk, shy face
When this shameful line was shot, the face was red. . . Ah ah ah ah ah"

 I don't think that covers the speech bubble words, but you probably get the picture!.


*Note on naming and language - Google translates this artist's Chinese character name (吐蕃叔)
  rather unpromisingly as 'Uncle Tubo' and you will see the name TooBoShoo on some of his drawings (or simply TB sometimes stylised like '7b'). I have also seen the name 'TangBingLa' associated with his pictures (e.g. 'Christmas Eve' above). Google interprets it as a Chinese phrase but translates it bafflingly as 'Sugar Cake'. The artist sometimes provides English titles, sometimes Chinese ones, but the translations are frequently no less ambiguous!

TooBoShoo posts his art on the Japanese site 'pixiv', 
see more at Tangbingla@pixiv (you need to register but it's free)
You can find his weibo address there but you'll need to be a user to access it.

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