To my readers......

SITE UPDATE NOTICE

Thanks for visiting mitchmen, home of Mitchell's Gay Art

The Caps and Collars/ Flat Cap Gang story at Google Groups is on a summer break until July. (see Group News for link)

Message updated 25th June 2023

Thursday 31 May 2018

Mitchell's Art for June - Feeling His Collar


Mitchell - Feeling His Collar
Jamie couldn't quite believe what was happening
It was like a terrible black dream.
But the hand feeling his collar was real enough.
'Not long now' said the guard, coldly

for other noose-related items click on the label below

Sunday 27 May 2018

A Life of Pirates


Julius  seems to be imagining a sort of 'Pirates of the Caribbean', erotic theme park here
 with randy semen sorry, seamen providing entertainments for the boys.

"Get yourself kidnapped by pirates, 

authentic raping and pillaging extra".

This one seems bored with it all, he's probably missing his phone.

Actually, I quite admire Julius' Pirate in this picture.
I mocked a well known model recently for wearing head-gear like this,
Julius gets it to look OK, the size of the crown is just right.


What I don't get is the young man of dubious age, seemingly awestruck by the Pirate's Post.

Julius often positions them like this, just visible in the corner of the picture,
like the cherubs that hang around deities in medieval art.

I suppose that comparison is possibly apt, but why does Julius do this?

He obviously likes drawing mature, muscular men, in some stories there's page after page of them.
At the same time, there's not a lot of indication in Julius' art that he actually likes boys that much.
They are frequently relegated to the periphery or background of the image.
His drawing of them, even when they fully visible, does not suggest he admires boyish physiques,
nor that he's overly familiar with what they look like (unless he's being very cunning).

However his stories, are always written from the point of view of inexperienced lads
and they often portray the impressive men who they meet, as being not very nice.
They are often controlling and sometimes they force themselves upon their young protegees.
I think we can presume this Buccaneer is likely to be cast in such a mould.

Why does Julius make young men the centre of his stories, but not his artwork?
Perhaps he's reliving boyhood fantasises.

This Pirate seems equally mystified.

More on Julius

Thursday 24 May 2018

Milking Factories No 3


 This milking factory by Cupcakes666 is the most intense yet. 
This factory owner has invested heavily in hi-tech extraction equipment for his herd.
He clearly thinks that uncomfortable restraint and ball tingling enhances the yield.
The boys are straining at their task most convincingly, but I suspect the pay's not that good.


 This GIFF variant by desaxxx1 goes beyond simple animation 
by adding tit-pumps, clearly inspired by farm milking machines
His imagining shows a never-ending stream of mixed dairy produce.

Do bigger balls produce more milk?
One of life's unanswered questions.

DGG- Alien Milking
The atmosphere here seems much calmer, 
but perhaps those restraint blocks are more limb-clamping than they look, 
threatening to reward energetic movement with broken bones.
 
I'm trying to limit this series to the original Milking Factory idea of mass male extraction, 
so, for example, I exclude solo milking machines, of which images abound (starting with Franco, way back). The circular disposition of the machines here is more borderline, more brat-lab than factory production line. 

But why would aliens want to mass produce human milk? Theone in the middle seems to be processing the lads milkings into a (presumably tasty) drink (note the green tumbler). Perhaps this is more like a Vending Machine situation, fresh is best, as it were. Maybe it's the restaurant checkout at a branch of Ikea somewhere out in the Milky Way. Let's hope for these lad's sake that human meatballs are not a delicacy here.

This picture does feature an unusual stimulation route via the navel 
and if you've ever tried pressing it during fluff extraction, you'll probably understand the allusion. 
Just a tip. Well it works for me!

The resemblance of this arrangement to an umbilical cord introduces a curiously oblique form of 'back to the womb' subjugation/domination which I suspect has more resonance for women than us chaps.

Visit Milking Factory No 4

Read this series from Milking Factory Part 1

Monday 21 May 2018

Bareass Blogs No 21

 Bareass Blue-Shirted Baseball Batter 
.
(Bed-Ready, Bareass, Blue-Shirted, Baseball Batter )


Sunday 20 May 2018

Bareass Blogs No 20

Bareass Backwoods, Backwards Lookin', Butt Blusher
and a BukBuddy too!
.

Saturday 19 May 2018

Wednesday 16 May 2018

My Window Cleaner

The muscular handy man who strips off to do his job, is a perennial erotic fantasy,
one much exploited by advertisers (notably Coca Cola).
Indeed, my own mitchmen 'tag' is the Dishonest Gardener who does exactly this 
- and other things he shouldn't, sadly. But that's another story.
 

These images from Modus Vivendi got my thinking about hiring a window cleaner as well,
although my glass is less extensive than this.
I suppose they should have got me thinking about buying new underwear really,
but I know what I like!


MV did get the cut of these underpants just right - for this model anyway,
but the photograper who dreamt up the matching welly boots was inspired.
Providing just the right degree of observance of 'Elf 'n' Safety guidlines
and kinkily highlighting his nakedness.
(No marigolds thankfully)
 

 If I can find a man who works this hard, all the better!
Exhausted by his endeavours and sporting a shiny wet torso as proof
His softly contoured muscularity might even justify a bonus.


A week later methinks, thank goodness the weather hasn't changed!
It's reassuring to see he's changed his underwear since his last visit.
The darker colour gives his body a more 'hour-glass' shape 
accentuating pecs and thighs


I need hardly add that the yellow seams also accentuate his nether regions
Just as last weeks pair accentuated his butt.
A most tactile-looking package. This chap could be a bit of a handful. Mmmm.

Unfortunately it looks like he's easily distracted, 
It's probably some passing builder giving him a wolf-whistle.
Get on with your work mate! 
That glass won't clean itself!

All pictures modelled by Alexandros Kaltsidis for Modus Vivendi

Sunday 13 May 2018

Tom of Finland's 'Loggers' Seduction.

In my last article I mentioned the much-neglected sequence in Pekka 1, 'Loggers', where Pekka performs a Kake-style seduction of the youngest of four brothers whom he's discovered living together in a remote forest cabin. 

In the story Pekka stumbles across the family whilst out rambling and with true backwoods hospitality is invited to stay the night . Pekka notices the brothers are all very shy and obviously don't have many visitors. They go to bed early and fall asleep straight away, tired from their day of logging work. 
Pekka lies awake thinking.

1
  Surrounded by all this young masculinity, he starts to fantasise about having sex with them all. 
He wonders if he can jerk off without them noticing. 
Then the youngest brother in the next bed stirs and his blanket slips, exposing his torso.
Attracted by this pleasant sight, Pekka soon notices the young man has an erection under the blankets. 
He can't resist having a closer look.

2
Trying not to awaken the sleeping beauty, Pekka draws the blanket down
.......and all is revealed.

3
It's an irresistible challenge, Pekka immediately homes in.

4
The young man awakes (from an interesting erotic dream, no doubt)
to find the stranger in their midst feasting on his dick.
It's a rather delicate moment and some Kake-style panache is required
if an unpleasant, negative reaction is to be averted.

5 (click to enlarge)
 Pekka proves to be no slouch in the seduction stakes.
He intuitively taps into the young man's secret desires and embarks on a romantic oral exploration of his body, ending up firmly engaged in a passionate kiss. Simultaneously he's exploring between the
the young man's legs with his free hand and getting an enthusiastic response. 
It proves to be enough to ensure there's no unseemly disturbance
 and the other brothers sleep on, unaware.

6

In due course Pekka obtains some sort of release.
But Tom, uncharacteristically, draws a veil over the details of how he gets there.

 ~

This extract illustrates aspects of the Pekka series which may explain their relative neglect.

The mix of cartoons and fully developed artwork doesn't really fulfil the erotic expectations of a reader who comes to it from seeing Tom's fully developed, photo-realist images. Even the most polished picture of this group (No 4) still lacks the complexity and detail that characterise Tom's best pieces. In fact the 'arrival scene' which I reproduced in my preceding article is one of the few in 'Loggers' that do.

Obviously it meant less work for Tom to create the simpler illustrations, offsetting the extra work involved in the ambitious painted ones. The cartoon device works OK for the lead-in to this scene (pictures 1 & 2) but the switch back into sketchy, miniature cartoons just as the encounter is hotting up (in 5) is distinctly disappointing. The structure at this point doesn't seem appropriate for the thrust (!) of the narrative.

What follows then (in  6) is a sudden jump from foreplay to glorious, technicolour ejaculation which  seems even more of a cheat. The absence of a fully expicit depiction of the two men's encounter may have been a deliberate teaser for the franker pictures which follow later on in the story as Pekka works his way through the other brothers, but it's abruptness breaks the spell of the storyline and creates the impression of an incomplete work.

The text which might have helped to erotically bridge this divide only serves to stoke our disappointment, with vague hints about what we might have missed. I haven't reproduced most of it here because the Pekka dialogue is not exactly great literature, but these two extracts give a good flavour of how it's written. (You can see read original in the refence at the foot of this article). We must make allowances for the pitfalls of translation and the difficulties of transplanting distinctive, local forms of expressions into foreign languages. However, taking the words at face value, they have a slightly patronising, pulp fiction flavour that doesn't conjure up the impression of a particularly attractive man. It doesn't fit with how I imagine the strong and silent men in Tom's other work would behave and talk. As movie stars of the 20's found, putting words into the mouths of previously unheard actors is a risky business. The predicament, you'll recall, is memorably parodied (for a woman) in the film "Singing In The Rain".

It's interesting to compare Pekka with Oliver Frey's 'Rogue' which is roughly contemporary. He's seen below negotiating a similar encounter with a Farm Boy in his own inimitable style.

click to enlarge
Unlike Pekka, Rogue is not a physically attractive man. His uncompromising, unapologetic exploitation of younger men ought to be unattractive too, but in a fictional context it isn't. Pekka (by his words) seems to need reassurance back from his prey, Rogue doesn't. Decide for yourself which you prefer for a story. Kake appears to be cast in the same mould as Rogue, but unlike Pekka he never speaks, so he can't give himself away.

To be fair, the Pekka series is a trip down memory lane for Tom, idealistically reminiscing about the natural beauty of his homeland, his youthful exploration of it and the lumberjack fantasies that embellished his adolesence. It may look like a Kake story in places, but there's a flavour of nostalgia, real life and yearning for comradeship that is a million miles from Kake's disfunctional world of exploitation, it's nicely captured in the campfire scene in Pekka 3 'Camping' (below).


Tom's also trying to find a broader audience for his work here. His experimentation with water colours and oil paint in scenes like this is very successful, more so than the (admittedly dramatic) spurt sample shown above.  All fringe artists have a yearning to go 'legit' at some point, but it's a clever man that can combine art with porn. Perhaps for Tom this was a step too far.

You can read the full Pekka 1 story with text here

Sunday 6 May 2018

Tom of Finland - Quiz Question Answered


A few days back I posed the question, where does this picture come from?
It's instantly recognisable as a Tom of Finland piece, but not very well known.

In fact this picture comes from the first of the Pekka stories - 'Loggers' (1975)

These 3 stories sit in the middle of the Kake series date-wise, but don't have quite the same whimsical, erotic punch as them. Told with text and a mixture of drawing styles ranging from simple line cartoons to coloured artwork, via conventional Tom photo-realism, they are less digestable and at the same time less substantial than Tom's other picture stories. For me, providing the lead character (Pekka) with rather ordinary thoughts and dialogue removes the air of mysterious, almost demonic mischief that attaches to Kake's speechless activities.

Tom - Loggers 10
 'Loggers' is actually a Kake-like story too, at heart, with the 'hero', Pekka, serially seducing a group of four brothers whom he discovers living in a remote, forest cabin (which you might loosely describe, I suppose, as a 'Goldilocks' scenario). There is a particularly good sequence where the wandering hero performs his first seduction on the youngest brother who's asleep in the bed next to him, awakening him to an unexpected intimacy (above).

 This is a quite well-known picture and a number of the more polished pictures from the Pekka series also circulate independently as regular Tom exhibits, but usually without being credited to the original books. Like the one below where Pekka arrives and introduces himself.

Tom - Loggers 07
This is justifiably seen as a classic Tom image capturing something of the erotic excitement that happens when like-minded men first meet. Notice how Tom practices his 'hidden eroticism' craft here with the suggestively-shaded leather insets in the visitor's jodpurs supplementing a modest mound. Also also the juxtaposition of the seated logger's beefy forearm, adjacent to his companion's crotch. In this pose they look as though they have just been caught doing something they shouldn't, the one with crossed arms looks particularly coy. These two brothers seem to be privately nudging legs at the arrival of this striking stranger.

The image I started this article with is not one of these well known pictures, possibly because naked orgies readily lose their identities and this one is not one of Tom's best. The figure in the long boots is not quite right but the couple fellating in the background right are very nicely done and, you will observe, one of them has a beard.

This was a beardie I missed in my survey of Tom's beards in 2016.
In the 'Loggers' story he plays the part of the quietest of the 4 brothers and is the last to succumb to Pekka's charm, but it turns out he requires a lot less seduction than the others who have already broken the ice (below).



This character is the last of a sequence of notable beardies that suddenly popped up in Tom's work in the early 70's, a phenomenon that I discussed in my original article. In this period Tom's occasional beardies were transformed from incompetent rogues into attractive, sexually desirable men. In some ways this picture represents the pinnacle of that transition, for this is really an admiring, erotic portrait of a bearded man, with a degree of maturity befitting his family position. He has a degree of male personality whereas the other characters in the background are just Tom clones, playing a supporting role and devoid  of individuality. If you look back at the first picture the same is true, only the bearded man in this group has a distinctive, eye-catching appearance. 

There's clearly something special behind this development in Tom's work. It's as though some individual has inspired Tom to suddenly take notice of this hirsute 'look'. We'll never know. In my updated article I consider the contemporary, cultural influences that may also have been partly responsible for this.

Wednesday 2 May 2018

A-Z of Fetish Artists - B2

There's a bit of mystery surrounding the identity of this artist whose work I believe dates from the early 2000's. He has an accomplished, distinctive style but the most interesting element of his work is the focus on the portrayal of black men who are severely under-represented in my mitchmen A-Z of fetish artist series and gay art generally.
 .

This is a highly original idea for bondage furniture. 
The padlocked metal 'belt' provides a single point of restraint that is completely inescapable and if the tethering is released it allows all manner of access to the unfortunate who is locked up in it.
More flexible than a sling but less comfortable for the occupant.

B2's style centres on chunky muscularity with bulging thighs and biceps supplemented by clumpy footwear, oversize feet being in vogue around that time. The prominent inclusion of a sounding rod in this picture is bold and uncompromisingly erotic, it looks like a punishment for sexual misdemeanours and is clearly having a suitably chastising effect.


There's more metal ware in this image although I fear this design would be impractical for a man with massively developed thighs like this. The unusual, grid-like pattern of the leather body harness resembles the crossed bars of a prison cell and seems to firmly encase the torso rather than plumping out the juicy bits as the classic harness does. 

Subjected to this heavyweight restraint, the captive has a curious look of expectant resignation, a sort of submissive, "OK, so you finally got me" look. B2's faces are authentically African but are more idealised than Belasco's 'street' guys with softly rounded features and tidy hair  
 .
B" - Naval Policeman
I suppose the idea of tidiness in appearance is exemplified by a man in uniform, particularly a Military Policeman. I usually grumble about sailor caps which look too pristine but I suppose it's an authentic look for this job. We all love a sailor (well I do) but B2's choice of an MP from the Naval branch of the Armed Forces is an unusual one. The detailing of the belt and neatly ironed trousers looks highly authentic so I'm tempted to think there's personal knowledge here (hence all that tidy hair elsewhere?). Military discipline and hierarchy is just as restraining as metal fetters in it's own way and this cop's demanding look, stern and impatient is clearly an order, not an invitation. For the avoidance of doubt  he thumbs towards his dangling baton(s). This is a very assertive portrayal of a black man but essentially drawing on white iconography.
 .
B2 - Getting a Ticket
This is the only white representative I've found amongst B2's work so it's interesting that he takes such a subservient role. In that respect this image too breaks free from the 'Black men bound' theme we saw in the first two pictures. But while the Navy MP (preceding above) is relatively free of negative stereotyping to most of us, the same cannot be said of a regular cop, so casting a black man in this dominant, abusing role is quite a powerful statement. 

The unusual styling of the white man's clothing might suggest that the artist was visualising a fetish encounter rather than a real life situation, but check the cop's right hand and you'll see he is holding a book of tickets and pen. Maybe it's the guy's provocative attire that has earned him the ticket.

The cop's other hand is held palm outwards and notice it has the correct, lighter skin tone ('whiter' I might say if I wanted to suggest complex motives here). This gesture could be interpreted simply as the cop's acceptance of the 'sex instead of a ticket' deal ("OK boy, go ahead"). Or it could be a theatrical underlining to us of his role reversal 'victory'. Or it could also be a statement of intent regarding the white boy's temptingly exposed ass. (While we're on that subject, that baton suddenly looks awfully black). 
Anyway the symbolism here is unexpectedly penetrating. 

B2's crisp styling of his character's clothing is very apparent in these last two pictures and it echoes the neat and tidy way he sees his men. Even sleazy moments like this seem clean and inoffensive.


B2 - Dungeon Ball and Chain
That theme of tidiness and cleanliness continues with an attractive prisoner in white vest and socks, chained up in a dungeon waiting to give service. It's easy to visualise him in a suited office job. For now he 's restrained by metal fetters with added riveting which emphasises their strength and pays a compliment in turn to the entrapped power of the captive. The introduction of the convict's ball and chain in the guise of a cock weight suggest there's a degree of historical looking back to more abusive times in all this metalwork.

B2 - Self Showering
In this picture the element of humiliation, which runs through all the pictures presented here, is expressed more strongly. There's the obvious self-inflicted, golden shower of course (relying on some imaginative fluid dynamics for direction as well as the delicious, coiled, cock-roping). But there's also a subtly suggested, underlying scenario of kidnap or forcible detention of some sort. For the prisoner here is not presented as a fetish enthusiast, but as a regular guy who wears traditional white underwear and check pattern shirts. The hooped decoration on his chunky socks is vaguely suggestive of construction worker stereotyping from which clues we may deduce that the hook from which he is suspended is not in a secluded dungeon, but on a very public, building site. B2 takes the self-conscious masculinity of workmen and turns against this particular man who presumably is deemed to be in need of taking down a peg or two. In recognition of the change in venue B2 switches to rope restraints.

~

B2's art is distinctive in style and it's general tidiness and polish looks back to Tom of Finland, another notable portrayer of black characters, but lacking the authenticity of this artist. The originality of B2's fetish images however does not depend at all on this characteristic but the images probably gain from it. He's a welcome latecomer to Mitchell's A-Z of fetish artists

It's tempting to attribute B2's work to the other prominent, black artist, Belasco. It would not entirely surprise me if that were so but there are notable stylistic differences. Belasco's work is generally less polished than these pictures, more cartoon-like. His men are not prettified either, their appearance is infused with ethnicity and a raw, 'ghetto', cultural background that is not at all apparent in B2's work. On a technical level Belasco's anatomy emphasises the shaping of limbs, the thinning at wrist and ankle and the shaply intermediate joints which B2's pictures ignore in the quest for chunkiness. Belasco revels in the shaping of feet, he doesn't hide them in clumpy boots or thick socks.
I'm inclined to discount the Belasco theory but have no other to offer in it's place.

I can't find any trace of B2  on the web, if you know more about his identity or where his work may be found please drop a comment on the form below.

 For more articles in this series click on the A-Z label below or search for specific artists using the index page or search boxes (in the navigation banner and top right)