Art Bob 1

Art Bob was a popular gay artist in the 60s with an unmistakeable, playful style. He depicted young men enjoying life and getting into 'interesting' situations. I've never reviewed his work here before but have previously posted sample images, also more recently at the mitchmen account at BSkySocial.  

 

Art Bob - A Little Pull From A Buddy

 

Many of Art-Bob's images will be well known to my readers, so I'm starting this article with one of his less familiar ones. It shows a guy helping his dormitory buddy into a tight-fitting suit -  a diving or flying suit perhaps or, given the imagery on the walls, some sort of spacesuit. 

 

It's not exactly clear what he's doing to help, except that he's using a thread. The suit area below his foot shows cross-stitching and yet the suit seems to have a zip. Sewing it all up seems decidedly kinky. 

 

Even more surprising (for the 50s) is that his foot is placed firmly on his buddies' groin. You don't have to be familiar with foot fetish to perceive the erotic nature of this gesture, the recipient is clearly 'getting it', as it were! For the avoidance of doubt, rockets thrust skywards behind them 

 

The would-be astronaut is a typical example of the artist's usual fare of young and slightly gauche subjects, but his buddy is something else. Stubbled chin plus a hairy and muscular physique, complemented by a rare sight of Y-Front style, white underwear. Hunks like this pop up refreshingly in other pictures by Art Bob. 

 

The title is an example of Art Bob's humorous innuendo. It seems charmingly coy to us but was necessarily so in 1959 when this was published. Most of the images presented here were drawn in the 50s, an era of repression on both sides of the Atlantic. 

 

 

Art Bob - A Stitch In Time

This picture also has a sewing theme. Another hunky buddy helps to fix his (nervous) chum's jeans. The pithy title suggests it's a repair, but these look well past being fixed 'in time'. In the 50s, fashionable young men started to have their jeans altered to fit more tightly round the bum. The most professional technique involved unpicking the centre seam of the pants, like this, cutting away a 'dart', and then sewing it back up. 

 

Needless to say, few lads were accomplished sewers, but if they were lucky their mums or girlfriends would do it for them. Otherwise, they had to call on a 'best mate', whose expertise might be just as lacking as their own. Doing the alteration with the jeans still in place is a typically male solution to the problem of getting it as tight as possible. But it's not without risk, as the stick-on plaster shows.

 

Quite why the helpful friend is nearly naked for this task is a mystery, but who's complaining? His muscular body is clearly shaved below waist level. The 50s furnishings in the background are a delightful detail, not least because the artist's style exactly complements it. No modern home could be without a cheese plant back then. 

 

 

Ronald Wright - A Stitch In Time?

Art-Bob's 'stitch' was very well-received and was reproduced in a number of contemporary beefcake magazines. English artist Ronald Wright was so impressed with the idea that he made his own version, copying the original composition pretty much exactly, but dressing the characters differently and relocating it (bizarrely) to a sports locker room. It's not a patch on the original, but the deliberate reversal of the characterisations is quite interesting.

 

 

Art Bob - Just The Ticket

Buddy collaboration features in this image too. Two lads in a beach buggy are trying to talk a cop out of giving them a ticket. While the cop is distracted, another member of the party reaches out of the boot (US, trunk) to let down his tyres. You don't notice it at first because of the absurd perspective and distance. It's quite an artistic hand, feminine potentially. The passenger feigns innocence on both counts.

 

The characterisation of the cop is decidedly odd. Wearing a bow tie, tight shirt and sun shades that look as though they belong to a fashion model, he's not exactly the epitome of authority.  

 

Beyond the cartoon joke, the check shorts of the passenger are quite sexy and the flash on the driver's trunks hints at, yet disguises, suggestive shaping. In the distorted, visual vocabulary of the image the driver's hand appears to be nudging the cop's groin, possibly grasping something - and the cop seems to have noticed. The hidden eroticism of the time (see label at foot of post for more).

 

 

Art Bob - The Rescue 1

 

Still at the Seaside, a young man strips off on a jetty to rescue a drowning man. He's not wearing any underwear which only underlines his heroism, putting himself in double jeopardy!

 

The artist has gone over the top with wide-eyed boyishness which doesn't gel at all with the mature, hairy muscularity of the character's physique. However, there's a nice sense of urgency in his improbably confused undressing and off-balance pose. The grasping hand projecting from the water is masterly. 

 

 

Art Bob - The Rescue 2

In the sequel, we see a handsome, young man being dragged from the water by his rescuer, whose concerned face now shows rather more maturity. His discarded clothes can be seen on the jetty in both pictures, the sketchy style seeming to morph them into fishing nets! 

 

The water ripples are delightfully stylish. The lower legs visible beneath them don't reflect reality, in contrast to the hand in the previous picture. That might simply reflect hasty sketching, but there's a modernist argument for showing something that's there, even if you can't see it. You can compare Art-Bob's depiction of dripping water with Tom of Finland's below.

 

Art Bob produced a number of diptychs like this, but these images are a far cry from his usual frivolity and whimsy.
 

 

Tom of Finland - Sailor Rescued From Drowning 1

 

Tom Of Finland's 1963 mini story about a drowning sailor rescued by a biker may have been inspired by this couplet. It's equally brief.

 

Tom of Finland - Sailor Rescued From Drowning 2

 

Interestingly, Tom's and Art-Bob's images interleave rather well to produce a more complete storyline, despite the disparity in technique and dress. Both seem to have decided it would be prudent not to attempt to show the moment where the two men come together in the water.

 

There may be more images in Tom's story, he usually did sets of six around this time, but if he did, I don't have them. 

 

 

Art Bob - Down The Road A-Piece

 

The final picture shows two sailors who also need rescuing. They seem to be stranded in the desert with their kitbags and an empty fuel can. A cowboy is gleefully directing them to the nearest gas station - which is clearly miles away! Little wonder they both look so downcast and dismayed. 

 

The cowboy seems to have his horse with him, the reins are in his hand, but he doesn't seem to be offering to help, perhaps he wants to enjoy their predicament for a while, as do we. 

 

Perhaps his offer of help comes with conditions and he's pointing out the unpalatable alternative. He's dressed pretty provocatively for that species and there's a telltale handkerchief in his back pocket which they haven't seen yet.  

 

I love the depiction of the sailors in this picture - both the butch seated one and the boyish doll-like one on the left. This artist shows his understanding of the sexiness of tight sailor's outfits and mangled caps. His depiction of them can't be faulted. Which is why I posted it previously in the In Praise of Sailors series.

 

More Art-Bob next time 

Art by Mark

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Art by StromoXXX

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Art by Briefcase 2

 Read Part 1 of this series

  If you had trouble finding the Briefcase silhouette images from Part 1 at pixiv, look on the last page of his illustration folders.

 

Briefcase - Lifeguard

 

This image is Briefcase's more usual style, a blend of cartoon exaggeration and genuine sensuality, with a good deal of added effects - dialogue, sound effects and reaction signals. The underlying image here is quite sexy, gaining from the Lifeguard connection. There's a pleasing innocence in the humour of pulling down a man's shorts, especially one who might be regarded as an authority figure in this location.

 

The picture leaves me curious about the speech bubbles. I dare say there's a 'wtf' equivalent in there, but it might also give us clues about motivations.

 

The caption here is mine. Briefcase calls it - Human-powered Happening (Another new kind of metamorphosis). I fear something got lost in the translation. I certainly did!

 

Briefcase - Camera Surveillance

Stripped of the comic elaboration, this image is a slow burner. The darker tones reflect its less jolly, voyeuristic nature. The subject is quite a hunk, but he cuts a lonely figure. Or is that wishful thinking? The jockstrap, carelessly encircling his ankle, suggests he might just have suffered a disappointing defeat.  

 

 

Briefcase - Lack of Nerves

You might attribute the same background of sporting defeat to this image too. A rugby player seeking solace in his bedding, rather noisily, by the look of it. Chunky men like this are Briefcase's forte. 

 

Another baffling caption, you can sometimes work these out by inverting the meaning. The artist explains that the sportsman's rubbing is making weird noises, so I guess the title might mean that he doesn't mind who hears him. Playing with that Japanese thing about modesty and shame.

 

I took the liberty of editing this image to remove a detail, top left seeking to show the lurid undercover detail, not entirely successfully. You can find the full image at the link given at the foot of this post. 

 

 

Briefcase - Marine Day (National Holiday)

 

This example of cheery chunkiness seems to exemplify the opposite idea to shame - being out, happy and proud in your own body. A great ad for chubbies (and gingers). And, by the way, a great example of how sexy Speedo-style, swimming trunks can be, regardless of who is wearing them. 

 

The naughty dribble is an unusual modern example of hidden eroticism. Somewhat redundant, in view of the fully detailed projection! There's another example in the cleverly disguised, discharge arrangements in the previous image. See label at the foot of the post for more examples.

 

 

Briefcase - Just (Barely) OK

The erotic qualities of moderate chunkiness and tight-fitting clothes lie at the core of this image, too. It stands up as sexy without any explanation, but looks like a well-built footballer struggling to remove his tight, clinging pants. Possibly rubber ones, which might explain the sound effects as squeaking. The colour co-ordination adds a 'team' ingredient to an image that might otherwise seem humdrum. The gratuitous bulge between his thighs is a nice bonus.

Briefcase's captions here are exceptionally puzzling, though perhaps not if you can read the speech bubbles. His sub-caption reads, "I think he wanted to do some kind of sailor suit for a married woman". As Manuel would say, "Que?"

Briefcase - Last Train

A few years ago, I did a post called 'I'm On The Train!', about captives being transported en-masse. Since then, the wearing of shorts on hot trains has sparked an entirely different interest in rail travellers. A veritable industry of voyeuristic snapshots of fit, male commuters. This picture, though shortless, is in the same vein. It's part of a triptych, of which this is number 2, the final showdown being inadmissible in this blog!

  

Briefcase - The Mystery of the Forc

 

This is the inverse situation, where a traveller (in shorts, this time) has developed an inconvenient arousal, probably from staring at that young man opposite, sprawling open-legged in Lycra shorts which leave little to the imagination. This is number three of another triptych showing the embarrassing outcome. The gritted teeth, clenched fists and pressing together of knees has failed to prevent a surge of wetness and uncontrollable shudders - great observation!    

 

I understand the mystery bit in the title, but 'Forc'? No.

A misspelling of force, maybe.  

 

Briefcase - Firing All The Bullets

In this 6-image story, an older man (with a still-youthful physique) grapples with the same unquenchable urge before stripping off and letting nature do what it wants to do. As the title suggests, he's not lost his endurance with advancing age, an achievement that has its downside when you're in a hurry. All too soon, he is summoned back to his chores (above). It's another nicely observed and wry piece of humour with a refreshingly different protagonist. 

 

Briefcase - Living Shame Wedding Suit

The shamefulness of wearing revealing clothing in public seems to have more bite in Japan than the western world, where it doesn't really have the power to shock any more. Still, turning up for a wedding dressed like this might raise a few eyebrows amongst some of the congregation - and itchy hands amongst the rest. This smug celebrant clearly doesn't care.

  

The artist titled this as Living Shame Wedding Dress, which I adjusted to skirt round the fem ambiguities in English.

 

 

Briefcase - On Stage

 

There's an explicit fem crossover in this item, highlighted by the wearing of pink nipple covers (I don't know the technical term). Despite being showered with money for his performance, the Bunny Boy looks extremely embarrassed. We can only wonder how he was persuaded to do it. An example perhaps of one shameful act being used to force him into another. At least his outfit doesn't expose his bottom half to gropers in the audience, like the female equivalents do.

 

 

Briefcase - Experimental

This artist doesn't do bondage or medical scenarios, but this intriguing, fetus-like image is a decent substitute. I've done my own water tank images* in the past, but always feel obliged to make some provision for breathing. Perhaps that tube behind him does that, but it looks as if it's connected to an entirely different orifice! AI eh?

 

*see also Swimmers Preserved 

Briefcase - Undressing

 

This is part of an eight image series in which a man undresses with a sour expression on his face that suggests he isn't doing it willingly. It's left to the observer to imagine why he has to do it. An examination? A search? Or something more sinister? The conventional white underpants might be clue as to why he's so unhappy about it.   

 

Briefcase - Soaked in a Shower

 Raincoats ain't what they used to be! We've all experienced that feeling of returning home with clammy wet clothing after being caught out in a shower. It's the wet, clingy jeans that annoy me. A feeling which in other circumstances I might quite enjoy! 

Briefcase catches the moment of reaching home, when things can be undone and the laborious task of stripping begun. The bedraggled hair, translucent T-shirt and damp briefs (dripping with rainwater?) create a great sight for onlookers, but they are unlikely to get much time to enjoy them! 

Of course there's more to reveal and the viewpoint the artist has used plays to our voyeurism. I love the spotlight on the subject's briefs!

 

Briefcase - End of Tour

 This looks like a similar situation at first sight with its hasty shedding of clothes and wet skin. There are other explanations, though. Briefcase's subtitle - 'Ah, it's over and done with' - doesn't quite explain away the more salacious ones.

Duos are quite unusual in this artist's pictures, and so are narrative scenes like this. There are some nice shorts on show here. Why do laces suggest easy access when the reverse is usually the case? I like, too, the idea of the soldiers keeping on their helmets while they do whatever they are doing.

*The tattered shorts on the left are reminiscent of those cartoons in 60s UK tabloids, which were based round a group of standard stereotypes. The castaway (usually stranded on a 1-metre diameter island with a solitary palm tree) and the bearded prisoner, dangling by his wrists, feet off the ground, in his tiny cell were nearly always clad in tattered shorts like these!

 ~ 

 Read Part 1 of this series 

This artist's website is Briefcase on pixiv

If you are unfamiliar with pixiv, the thumbnails on the 'all-works' page link to posts containing one or more images. With this artist, some of these posts contain a variety of images which don't all match the thumbnail. If you want to quickly track down a particular image posted in my article, download it to obtain the pixiv id, then at pixiv display a random image and replace its id with the one you are looking for.