Art by Steve Masters 2

Steve Masters - Al Fresco

 If the convict image that topped Part 1 of this article is one of Master's most memorable, this must be the most intriguing. This is the best quality copy I have of it, but it's not the most complete, a version I have assembled from two other sources (below) shows more of the composition at both the top and the bottom.

Steve Masters - Al Fresco (extended)

Looking at this expanded version, you get the feeling that there's probably even more to see in the artist's original. The fragment at the top seems chopped, but it does seem to be the uppermost floor, because it doesn't have a staircase leading further upwards.

But what does it mean? At one level, you might see it as simply a vehicle for figure studies. Most of Master's compositions have that 'posed' quality, with limited interactions between the characters. In this picture, the men interact with the architecture more than they do with each other. However, one window does show a couple who might have just had sex, is this an imagined house of boys, then? 

At the other end of the scale, you might see this as an allegory of the gay lifestyle. Bedsit boys, living mostly solitary lives and constantly looking out at more showy men who have the courage to strut the fire-escape in public view. Close by, but out of reach, and ultimately just as trapped as they are, in the gay ghetto. That subtext would have had some resonance in the early sixties, when many gay men really were trapped and the gulf between the closet and the secret, 'out' world was far more substantial than it is today.

Steve Masters - Cubicles (my title)

 If you are inclined to dismiss this interpretation, this picture might make you think again. Nine men in panels depicting toilet cubicles, and one of them is having sex if you look closely. None seem to be actually using the toilet. 

This image depicts the wide variety of men that haunted restrooms. The original was clearly coloured, as many of Master's images were. and that would have enhanced the sense of variety - in dress at least. 

It's intriguing though that the individual portraits are cropped so severely. In places, it creates the illusion that the men are having sex with each other, with an impressive daisy chain in the middle. The overlaps in the outer panels create the same effect in a different way.

Squeezing the images together does create a sense of fleeting visits and of the individuals merely registering as an impression. But there's a negative flip to that, which echoes the suggestion of isolation and loneliness in 'Al Fresco'. 

The artist Rex also played with the cubicle device later on. His images contain gay men actually interacting and having sex in their own partitions (which are closer to hotel rooms or bath house cubicles than public toilets). As individuals, they have much stronger identities. Both men are reflecting their times, of course.

 

Steve Masters - Rock Climbers (1962)

A young man is helped across a crevasse to join his companion, who strikes a godlike pose. It's a scene reminiscent of renaissance art. There's a calmness about this picture and a complete absence of innuendo, although their nudity (contrasted with residual clothing and kit) does suggest a sexual context. The shedding of all clothes means there's none of the showy display that characterises so much of Masters' work.   

 

The elements of creativity and design which dominate the previous images can be seen differently here, with a relatively simple composition embellished with what appear to be fragments of commercial marble images, such as might be seen on kitchen worktops or tiles. It creates an effect of a jagged, alien reality as the background and obstacle to the climbing. 

 

 

Steve Masters - Bacchanal

 

This image has a similar, striking design featuring realistic marbling, but it couldn't be more different to Rock Climbers. The design effects almost overwhelm the whole composition. 

 

When your eyes focus, it's dominated by an image of Bacchus with a dragon headed snake between his legs, discharging his lust from its mouth into a pool. The snake seems to be actually entering his body at the rear. An incongruous cupid rides behind him, seemingly trying to restrain the creature (or simply distract unwelcome prudes). 

 

Oblivious of them, a group of naked sailors loll drunkenly on the edge of the pool, full of a milky white substance, which probably isn't asses milk. (Shades of Stephen's 'Troopship'!). The sailors are subtly connected by hands and overlaps into a chain of shared, sexual sensuality. 

 

At the very back, another humanoid creature sits cross-legged, presiding over the activities. He's shaded in a different tone to the sailors, I suspect it's a different colour in the original image, to distinguish him from them. A disembodied head like a gargoyle hovers in front of his groin, obscuring it from view. It looks like a device added later to sanitise the image. 

 

I suppose this image simply expresses the view that gay debauchery is (reassuringly) sanctioned by the Gods, nay it's directed by them. Despite the difficult presentation of the subject, its sheer complexity is impressive. The figure of Bacchus and his snake is a homoerotic gem.

 

Steve Masters - Watching Men (my title)

This earlier piece shows the same interest in placing men into places with striking design features. The less exotic chequerboard patterns show a link to contemporary commercial art, although I can't quote chapter and verse on that. There's no attempt to construct a story line, but there's a very clever message... 

 

In the background, we see a couple of attractive, scantily-clad men engaged in healthy exercise. Another two are getting undressed for a bath (together? really?).  In the foreground, a fifth man in a jockstrap sits on a platform watching them, almost furtively. He seems a lonely, excluded figure, rather like the souls looking out of windows in 'Al Fresco' - and perhaps like the figure crossing the divide in 'Rock Climbers'.

 

 

Steve Masters - Boot Clean

Words are the striking feature of this image, with enough gay innuendos and puns to satisfy the most playful mind (soles rimmed?) These signs refer us back to the key character, who we see presenting himself - alone - and in a cubicle(!)  Not exactly trapped, though - or is he? 

 

The multiple offers of service around him are supplemented and clarified by the fact he's holding his cock in his hand. Masters has cloaked him in conventionality by draping a fashionable cardigan over his shoulders, an appealing connection for some.

 

The hint of a fairground connection can be seen in other work by this artist, in Part 3. 

 

Steve Masters -Handy Man

Words serve a very different purpose here. At first, we only see a fit, muscular man with a revealing shirt and a suitcase. We can visualise him arriving in a new place, looking for work and somewhere to live. So far, so very homoerotic. 

 

Then through the blizzard of words we see he has no right arm and no, it's not just one of Masters' design flourishes. He's a veteran, returning as a casualty of war. Immediately, those sexy innuendos and offers around him take on a bitter irony. His face acknowledges the reality of being able-bodied and yet not. He, too, is alone and isolated.

 

This is 1961, the year that American involvement and casualties in Vietnam began to escalate. With the Korean War a recent memory, Masters seems to anticipate and protest the inevitable consequences and the toll it would take on so many young men.

 

~ 

 

Part 3 of this series looks at Masters' less intense work.

 

Read Part 1 of this article  

More AI Art by BedVC太郎

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Recent art by Hongd542

Captive

This muscular man is being held prisoner. He's been stripped to his underpants and ritualistically tied up in shibari-style rope work. A bare topped captor silences his protests. The sun streaming in through the window cruelly mocks his captivity. An array of instruments in the background suggest other torments lie ahead.

 

Cop

A cop in his office pauses from his paperwork for a coffee (product placement!) and a snack. He, too, is mightily muscular, filling out his uniform with every part of his body. Tight enough to show us that he isn't wearing any underwear. Some Offices have that as a rule. The doughnut he's nibbling provokes ribald comments about licking tasty rings from his colleagues. 

 

He might easily be the captive of image 1.

 

Convict

It's easy to visualise him as a prisoner. Restrained with handcuffs, forced to wear the humiliating stripes of a convicted felon and made to submit to intrusive searches at the whim of his jailers. His resentment is apparent, but futile. They will have their way. 

 

Victim

It's even harder, out there on the streets. Danger lurks in every alleyway, and even a street-wise man can fall foul of what lurks there, waiting for an opportunity to sate its lust. 

 

Sportsman

 The sports field should be a place of refuge from the world's evils, a place of relaxing, healthy exercise. But even there, a muscular man is at risk. Teams bend the rules, ostensibly to be the winners, but no sporting triumph can beat the thrill of scoring in the goal that lies hidden in every opponent's shorts.

 

Locker Room Lollipop

As the Cop with his doughnut discovered, things that melt in the mouth can stoke an appetite for savoury treats. There's no shortage of men eager to give them instruction in the locker rooms. It's not only narcotics that get you hooked.

 

Fetish Date

The discipline of team sport is good preparation for the rigours and training for formal servitude. Every journey begins with the first step, but this hunk can scarcely have imagined where that lollipop and curiosity would lead him. 

Juicy Fruits

Temptation abounds in every profession. Stoked by unscrupulous employers who impose quick-release uniforms on their workers. They are designed to assert their power over them - and, by a happy coincidence, satisfy their tastes for eye candy of the masculine kind.  

 

Underwear Inspection in the Army

It's no different in the army. The uniform is prescribed and regularly inspected. Even a soldier's underwear is inspected periodically to make sure it is clean and without creases. The Sergeant thinks it helps with unit bonding.

 

See also 'Peacekeeper' at 'X' 

 

 

Office Boss

Some Offices make their employees wear shorts. In this one, the roles are reversed on 'Dressing Down Friday', with the workers finding skimpy shorts for the Boss to wear and showing him what it's like to be the underling. It's all taken in good spirit usually but, as with any Office 'do', it's wiser to not drain his patience completely. 

 

 

Office Suspension

For those that go too far, there's Suspension Saturday. This happens quite often to employees who happen to be good-looking. They can't show their contrition by writing out lines, of course. Instead, the Boss comes in to see them when he thinks they've had enough and extracts whatever he wants from them on the spot.

 

Office Dicktation

Men with exceptional credentials and malleability may even get promoted to be the head honcho's PA. Their duties mainly involve looking hot when doing the filing and sitting on the bosses knee to take his dicktation. Little extras in their pay packets are their reward for allowing access to their play packets. There's also a bondage bonus if they have to stay late for 'over the knee' overtime. He doesn't take no for an answer. 

 

 

Office Primer

 Some new employees find this culture difficult to adjust to, but primer courses are helpfully provided for promising entrants. In the privacy of the medical centre, they are shown what will be expected of them and how to make the most profitable use of their natural abilities. They are also taught some unnatural ones that might come in useful, too. It's a hard and sweaty induction.

 

 

Milking Medic

The highly experienced medical staff are well-equipped to allay their patients' anxieties about the sometimes-invasive procedures. Their expertise always gets the best out of their charges, who leave exhausted and drained, but with happy memories. 

 

 

Office Restroom

 The pressures and tensions of such jobs are enough to drive any red-blooded male to seek respite in the restrooms. There they can find relief - if one of their equally-aroused colleagues doesn't find it for them first.

 

~

This is Part 5 of my series about Hongd542's AI art,
Earlier articles: Part 1 contains onward links through to Part 4

Hongd542 posts enormous quantities of art and surprisingly rude versions of his images at his Hongd542 Deviant Art site 

Art by 'Jockinbignikes' 2 - The Milking Factory

 Start reading Jockinbignikes at Part 1

Jockinbignikes - Billy, Specimen #115

 This is the closest this artist comes to showing us the extraction arrangements at his milking facility, which has a high-tech, lab-rat slant. The hunks are pre-treated to make them spontaneously produce voluminous quantities. They are not even required to undress, in fact it's so spontaneous, apparently, that they don't get the chance to. I suppose straining their produce through sweaty shorts might add extra depth to the masculine flavours, but simply collecting the run-off at his feet seems a little crude. You can see it's all spotlessly clean, though!

 

Jockinbignikes - Jonas, Specimen #300 - U of M Collection

This snap of a different donor at work seems to confirm the improvised nature of the collection arrangements. Rather like scrambling for buckets and bowls when the roof starts leaking. 

However, milk extraction without attaching any restraints or collection tubes to the donor is a revolutionary innovation in the industry and will produce ripples of unease in certain quarters. This facility exploits the natural willingness of men to give their tackle a run out at the drop of a hat, and the 'free-range' technique must add authenticity to the end-product. 

Jonas, here, was recruited after being seduced in the locker-room by two operatives. He willingly entered the collection van in an already excited condition. So when 'the treatment' was administered to him there, it was pushing at an already open door, amplifying his already activated impulses. The snag (from the donor's point of view) is that once production has kick-started, it can't be stopped. The treatment has to wear off for that to happen. 

 

Jockinbignikes - Shayne - Specimen #96

 

Men who entered the programme, confident in their manly prowess, soon discovered that the insatiable uncontrollable, chemical 'push' of the treatment they had been given, was exhausting. In fact, it was worse than the insistent 'pull' of conventional, extraction devices that were generally used on men in captivity. 

The pleasure of rapidly repeating climaxes soon decayed until they just wanted it to stop. There was nothing to stop them leaving the facility, but non-stop ejaculations made it physically impossible. The usual, post-production downer was multiplied over and over again. It drained them of all aggression, of the will to do anything at all, in fact.

 

Jockinbignikes - Big Dean, Specimen #657, Mobile Acquisition Unit

 In the early days of the programme, it was easy to pick out likely-looking studs in quiet locations. They were persuaded to volunteer their services and enter the Mobile Acquisition Unit for an initial 'try-out'. Once disabled by desire, they were spirited away to the Mass Collection Centre. 

 

Jockinbignikes - Specimen #881, Dustin D, Horny Gym Jock

As disappearances mounted, men became more wary. But by then the Centre had developed a portable device that was able to apply the treatment randomly in the street, without the need to waste time on persuasion and preparation. It kicked in almost instantly, effectively disabling the chosen ones with orgasmic ecstasy. They were usually only too willing to accept the offer of transport to somewhere they could hide and be looked after until the embarrassing outflow was stopped. They were not to know just how long that might take. 

Jockinbignikes -  Jett and Bo, U of M Collection, Mobile Acquisition

Impressed by the performance of Jonas (image 2 above) the scientists returned to the University of Michigan to see what else the Wrestling Club had to offer. Thanks to misleading accounts of the Milking Centre's activities, which had been deliberately leaked into social media, many young men thought it would be an honour to be selected for the programme. Jett and Bo thought so for a few fleeting minutes after they realised they'd been 'had' by the pair of chicks they were chatting up. 

 Their pride lasted long enough to pose for this picture. It didn't feel quite so great as they were led to the white van with their organs uncomfortably enlarged and raging uncontrollably. The cheers of the crowd followed them and kept the euphoria going a little longer. Then the doors closed and their new life as milk beasts began. 

 

Jockinbignikes - Greg, Subject #199

It didn't take long for the Government to get involved in the programme. They saw all sorts of benefits, ranging from increasing fertility in the population to taking hypermasculine aggression off the streets. They secretly authorised The Centre to conscript new recruits to the programme, whether they wanted to join or not. 

 

The Centre was still selective about who they wanted. Greg was under surveillance for weeks. When they came for him in the gym and showed him his call-up papers, he knew he had no choice. Unfortunately, he also had a good idea of the rough ride he was in for.

 

Jockinbignikes - Chet, Specimen #225

 Sometimes the Police were drafted in to help with the reluctant ones. Chet had been something of a locker room bully, constantly belittling less well-endowed teammates. Eventually, one of them turned the tables and reported Chet's impressive statistics to the Centre. He earned himself a useful finders fee to put towards his education. 

 

Jockinbignikes - Frank, Specimen #127

Inevitably, dodging the 'cum draft' soon became a national pastime, but the searchers were relentless in their pursuit of tasty hunks. Frank was too fond of the ladies to keep his physical assets a secret, but his big weakness was that he couldn't keep away from the gym. They caught him there with his pants down and since he was an evader, they cuffed him as a precaution before leading him out to the white van. Luckily, Frank's obsession with his own body turned out to be a great asset in his new role. 

Watch out for that mysterious white van in your vicinity!

More Jockinbignikes next time

~

 This is also Milking Factory No 23, go to Milking Factory 24

 

Click on the 'Milking Factory' label below 

for all other posts on the subject at mitchmen blog

or the 'milking' label for all posts with milking imagery.

 

New Balls Please!

 Baseline Volley by SoreButtGuys at Deviant Art
captioned by mitchmen 

All these images from his "Tennis Brats" series

Tennis Brat Treatment

 

Enjoying Their Job

Bareass blogs No 87

 

Bareass Backhand Stroker

Go to Bareass No 88 (link pending)

For other Bareass boys click on the label below 

or start reading at Bareass No 1 and follow the links

Bareass Blogs No 86

Bareass Bad-Ball Batter

A rather stately Kurtis Wolfe struts his stuff, ready to receive
in a photo by Mark Henderson (from Lap of Luxury)

Go to Bareass No 87 

For other Bareass boys click on the label below 

or start reading at Bareass No 1 and follow the links