Art by Holzman

Holzman - Merchant Navy 1

This Hussar advert in Fizeek magazine in 1963 introduced a new artist to the gay scene, Holzman, with a 'playlet' about a nautical thief. The illustration shown is one of the opening images of the series showing the 'toughie' arriving with his kit bag. You can tell he's tough because he's got a torso-revealing, open jacket (leather?) and a cigarette drooping from his mouth. You sense he's a man with attitude although the cant of his head here is what smokers do to keep their cigarette smoke out of their own eyes. In that respect this is a neat little piece of observation by Holzman, documenting a practice that's gradually dying out. The tough is thoughtfully examining something that he's found, his seaman's papers perhaps although I suspect it's a bottle  (see below). 

I don't have all 16 images in this story or any information about their sequence and have therefore  simply numbered them in what seems to be the logical sequence

Holzman - Merchant Navy 2

The new boy climbs on board with a long, butt enhancing stride and a determined look on his face. 

The texturing of his jacket and jeans suggests they might be leather, which in the 60's was thought of as the uniform of wild bikers. However, the presence of turn-ups and the styling of the jacket with visible seams is more suggestive of denim, a more suitable material for working on a boat.

Holzman - Merchant Navy 3

Below decks, the toughie examines a bottle of alcohol which has a label promising serious gut rot. It's enough to make him drop his cigarette, which apart from being a breach of good manners, is liable to start a fire on a boat, a danger to life and limb. 

Despite these shortcomings in character we are learning about, he's portrayed as a sexy beast. The 'Latin look' was quite common iconography at the time and very exotic to UK eyes. The exaggerated fleshy lips and dark-rimmed eyes seem to be borrowed from female notions of sexual allure (unfortunately for the image of gay men). A distinctive vocabulary for the male equivalent had yet to be developed (and probably wouldn't have been accepted by society at large anyway).

The straw-clad carafe of wine in the cupboard behind him is a nostalgic image from a less sophisticated era in the UK. You might also recognise the 'Heinz 57 Varieties' label on the tin on the bar, amazingly it hasn't dated in 60 years and I suppose the same is true of his fashion wear.

Holzman - Merchant Navy 4

In this image it seems that the new crewman has removed various articles to his cabin and is about to hide them in his kit bag, furtively concealing his actions from a member of the crew working on the deck just outside. It must be a hot day because everyone seems to be undressing. The enticing glimpse of flesh through the porthole is the calf of a crewman walking towards the left of the picture. 

You could be forgiven for thinking here that the thievery entailed drinking the liquor and then topping up the bottle to hide the theft. However I can imagine this clever 'hidden eroticism' probably escaped the attentions of the censor and deservedly so, because it's very nicely drawn, a neglected classic. 

The villain has become more Anglo-Saxon-looking in this image, but I think it is the same character. judging mainly by the turn-ups (image 2) and the presence of the two tins. The Latin look does return later but only in one special example.

The smoky effect at the left, by the way, is not the result of his dropped cigarette but a scanning effect. It has fortuitously added a nice texture of dappled light to an otherwise 'flat' image.

Holzman - Merchant Navy 5

The villain's activities are disturbed by the arrival of a 3rd crewman (also apparently wearing a leather jacket). He too starts to undress, whistling as though routinely changing into his work clothes, which judging by the porthole vision in the previous picture might consist of very few clothes indeed. The thief is horrified, presumably imagining he's about to be exposed - as a thief, according to the story line, or, in the more subversive sub-text, as a man who has problems with naked male flesh. 

Holzman's picture here copies classic, film noir imagery, with the unsuspecting innocent making himself ever more vulnerable to a hidden threat of which he's unaware. The hidden eroticism in this image surrounds the ambiguous interpretation of the bottle, angled just right to suggest the villain is getting other ideas about dealing with this new arrival. The coat hook just above his head provides a more graphic hint of what he might have in mind with the backing plate suggesting a tight fit. 

Holzman - Merchant Navy 6

The crisis seems to be precipitated by the arrival of a third man. He appears to be the skipper of the vessel, previously glimpsed through the porthole in picture 3 and now revealed to be dressed only in a cap, skimpy slip and sea boots (the last a worrying link to the contents of the bottle!). At this point the undressing crewman has lowered his underpants. In fact they are nowhere to be seen, presumably lost in the folds of his jeans, unless they're ripped to pieces on the floor.  

The villain's reaction seems a bit over the top. In the story plotline he seems to think that his exposure as a thief is imminent and so goes into self-defence mode, smashing the bottle to use as a weapon 

(or it could be that he's suddenly revolted by the thought of sampling it's contents!) 

Alternatively, in the delicious ambiguity that pervades this story, the young skipper's sexy appearance here offers an explanation of the actions of the villain back in picture 3. His panicky reaction now is triggered by the rapidly accumulating male nudity and the sudden prospect that he might be about to witness something unspeakable going on between these two men, whom, we should remember, didn't know he was there until he announced himself by smashing the bottle.

There used to be a accepted legal principle of 'homosexual panic', i.e. a fear of being in imminent danger of being raped by a homosexual. This was advanced as a legitimate excuse for assaulting gay men and even killing them. In some cases the reaction hid the fear of having his own, secret, homosexual leanings exposed. This concept perversely confers a power on gay men over straights that is erotically appealing, if entirely fanciful.

 Holzman's rendering of the hunky skipper is masterly but some severe cropping seems has gone on, spoiling the depiction of his crewmate. The villain's aggressive act has been converted into a disembodied eerie 'manifestation'. This may have been intentional, to amplify the sense of panic and the shock to the sailors. It might even allude to an explosion of a different kind. However, it was also common practice in this period to publish incomplete images in order to encourage viewers to buy the full artwork.

Holzman - Merchant Navy 7

Somewhat surprisingly, the villain chooses to confront the defenceless, nearly naked seaman with the bottle rather than the Captain. It's him (or his nudity) that he finds most threatening, or it could be that this crewman has challenged him or is attempting to calm him*. Interestingly, his jeans have now dropped round his ankles and the villain is suddenly sporting a recognisable manifestation of excitement in his jeans rather than the generalised bulge seen occasionally in the preceding pictures. 

*Perhaps Holzman simply thought it made a better picture. Whatever the case it's a great image using a challenging viewpoint. The quality of these pictures in both technical and dramatic terms is certainly on a par with the emerging stars of this era - Tom of Finland and Etienne.

Holzman - Merchant Navy 8

The captain intervenes with a mighty upper cut. By this time, his half-undressed crewmate is down on the floor, on his knees (and with bare ass raised in a classic, passive pose). The broken bottle is nowhere to be seen, suggesting that he managed to disarm the villain before he could do any damage with it.

Holzman has included the coat hook (from picture 4) in this image, positioning it a short distance from the villain's half-open mouth. It sort of matches the sweep of the Captain's fist and suggests there's an erotic consequence in store for him, but is slightly off-piste in the circumstances.

I don't have a satisfactory copy of this picture but it's too important to leave out. 

The cartoonised version below gives a neater sense of how the original might have looked.

Holzman - Merchant Navy 8 (AI variant)

This more balanced variant gives a better sense of the drama of the moment. It also brings out the nudity of the fallen sailor, almost seeming to suggest that the other men are fighting over him (hence, I suppose, the presence of the phallic coat hook, which, in a bizarre AI tweak, is suddenly dripping!). 

However, we can also see more clearly that the fallen sailor's arm is entwined with the villain's foot, confirming his active role in overpowering him. 

Holzman - Merchant Navy 9

The thief is down but not yet out as the crewmates pile onto him. The captain's hands are clasped tightly together round the villain's neck and he is struggling manfully to detach them. The second crew member, having disentangled himself completely from his jeans and underpants, has grabbed the villain's free arm and is pulling it into his uncovered crotch, where it can't cause any mischief but feels nice. 

Ominously for the villain, his flies have come undone and his Y-fronts are pushing up through the gap and being nuzzled by the skipper's shin (entirely accidentally, I dare say). His choice of underwear makes the bulge in picture 6 improbable, although the picture below shows they are not a very tight fit, so maybe it was an escaper.

Holzman - Merchant Navy 10

The sailors turn the villain upside down, perhaps hoping to see what will fall out of his pockets, which is the traditional way of exposing a thief in kids' comics. It has the effect here of pulling his jeans off anyway, which will enable them to conduct a more thorough search (or something like that). Losing his pants also makes it a tad more difficult for him to run off, but I suspect that being undressed by these men is only going to intensify that instinct.

You may think you've seen this picture before and you'd be right if you're a regular visitor to this blog, because exactly the same picture appears in my article on the Art of Cas. The same that is, except that it is signed there by Cas. Cas and Holzman are the same person.

Another Cas-Holzman picture can be seen at the mitchmen Royale Studio blog in the 'Timeline' post section 63.1. It's in an ad, emblazoned with the Cas logo, but a contact address has been positioned on top of the original Holzman signature. The background to this name changing is a mystery. Perhaps something to do with publisher's exclusivity.

Holzman - Merchant Navy 11

Finally the villain seems to have collapsed, or at any rate he has stopped resisting. The crewmen lift him bodily almost as if intending to pitch him overboard. Their bulging trunks symbolically almost touch in a sort of low five (or three) you might call it . Apparently the stripper has managed to put his underpants back on. The enhancement and clarification of this image has brought the villain's underpants into stark relief, stretched tight round his buttocks and deep between them. 

The clues to what is actually about to happen to him can be seen behind them.  

This picture and 13 below have both been retrieved from small thumbnails in Hussar ads, hence the inferior, fuzzy quality. They suffice to allow us to understand what is going on, however. 

If any reader can supply better versions, please get in touch!

Holzman - Merchant Navy 12

The sailors hold the would-be thief down over a barrel, which can be seen standing against the wall in the previous picture. The captain takes the lead in punishing him, flogging him with a knotted rope. His crewmate sits on the villain's head to hold him down (with his balls resting on his shoulders where they can monitor the villain's movements as he reacts to the thrashing). His pose here, with the characteristic turning of the head is reminiscent of Spartacus.

The skipper's fleshy physique does not disappoint in this picture but his face has now transformed rather unpleasantly into an appearance similar to that of the villain when he arrives at the boat. This seems to be a look chosen by Cas to represent nastiness and it's been gradually developing in the Captain in the preceding pictures, like something out of Dorian Gray. 

Cas seems to be playing with a very dubious stereotype of foreignness here and unnecessarily so since it would perfectly OK for the cute, hunky, young man in picture 6 to maintain order on his own boat without turning into a demon. I suppose there's a certain satisfaction in the villain being 'out-nastied', having underestimated his intended victims. The crewmate steps up for his own crack of the whip next.

Holzman - Merchant Navy 13

The villain must have struggled energetically during the Captain's assault because the two sailors have now tied him down over the barrel with his arms and legs spread wide. The sailor who was earlier threatened with the broken bottle stands astride him with the miscreant's head between his legs. He pulls it up by the hair so it's snugly wedged in his crotch, almost face upwards here so it gets the fullest experience. He proceeds to flog him himself with the knotted rope, no doubt enjoying the villain's struggling movements between his thighs which seem to be dislodging his already skimpy trunks.

The skipper watches them, flexing his muscles triumphantly. He even seems to be rubbing his packet with his left hand, but that may be wishful thinking on my part!

Holzman - Merchant Navy 14

In this final image, again recovered from an advert thumbnail, the punishment seems to finished. The scene has shifted to a bedroom with a washbasin in the corner and the chastised villain meekly seeks the comfort of a cushion to sit on, on the bed. He's now without any underpants at all and there's a faint suggestion of criss-cross weals on his buttocks. It's possible that a bare-ass final spanking was the subject of one of the two missing images.

His two adversaries stand, lording it over him, with undisguised enlargements on their pants. One of them is resting his arm on a long pole which faintly suggests the punishment may even have reached into internal regions in some shape or form. The Captain, restored to normal handsomeness, breaks out the liquor that seems to have been the root cause of the problem. The villain hasn't got much to celebrate but it doesn't look like he's free to go just yet . You sense the affair is not yet over.

~

These images were obtained from the internet and some from TimInVermont

and enhanced by mitchmen where my logo has been added.  

 

more about artists featured by Royale and Hussar

Royale Guardsmen Colourised

These fascinating, colourised versions of three Royale Studio photos showing two Guardsmen wrestling, bare-top were kindly submitted to me by Roo Morgan. The colouring transforms these images. The flesh tones draw in the eye, promising erotic interest, which is there if you care to look - the hand placed on the one man's raised buttock , the forearm embedded in the other's own crotch and as for the hidden head, we can only surmise what that is doing. Their interlocking itself is supremely intimate

The uniforms these men are wearing are genuine and Roo has given them authentic colours persuading us that these are real soldiers, real Guardsmen, which they probably were. Men chosen to represent the heights of maleness and strength in our society. The wrestling scenario amplifies those manly characteristics and these two even have tattoos, a badge of uncultured maleness in the 60's, not a fashion.

Royale's predilection for real servicemen gave their images a thrilling tang of reality. Making them strip and touch each other in erotically interesting zones like buttocks, implied that the manly veneer conferred by their uniform concealed undercurrents of bold, homo-erotic desire. In this picture the hint of physical domination and submission to intimacy seems to epitomise that.

It subverted the whole military service ethos of obedience, discipline and working together.
No wonder the establishment was alarmed.

These images show the two Guardsmen in undignified poses, not the sort of image to command the respect their superiors would want of the Services. The upraised bottom and open crotch are hugely suggestive sexually, distasteful even today and socially unacceptable then. There's already a suggestion of mutual embracing here but these two, carefully contrived poses only need to shift a little horizontally to become a simulation of oral sex. A typical example of 60's hidden eroticism which gay men would spot but would go over the head of the average 'man on the Clapham omnibus'. 

 If you haven't visited the new Royale Studio Blog and Gallery yet I encourage you to do so. 
There are several new or upgraded posts there that have never appeared here:

Sailors Wrestling in the Rigging - expanded from one picture to four. 

Peter George in Underwear (the missing PUN-1?)

Peter George's Storyettes (new list)

Peter Watts tied to the rigging (new information)

Plus a whole series of posts about Royale and how they operated
and index of forthcoming storyettes.

~

I welcome any feedback (via comments)

about how you find the design of the new site

More Art by Team52Crazy

Read Part 1 of this article - Bondage Art by Team52Crazy

 

This playful image seems to recognise the special, inviolable status that a uniform has for it's wearer, but subverts it by showing him sweating with anxiety, or perhaps it's excitement, as the tailor's hands hover in the vicinity of his crotch. It's difficult to tell if the tailor's 'Asian-wink' is showing puzzlement, contempt at the absurdity of the soldier's sensitivity or is an aside to the viewer signalling his intention to embarrass the soldier even more with the classic, Inside Leg Measurement manoeuvre.

This image of course reworks a tailoring scenario made famous by Tom of Finland in the 60's

This image explores a similar embarrassment but this time it's the lustful stare of the chunky specimen at the adjacent urinal that is discomforting the military man (or is he a cop?). He's had to lower his trousers to get his dick out and it's exposed his white underwear and glimpses of butt cheek, a pose which makes his uniform seem less than intimidating.

This image has a striking resemblance to one of my recent illustrations for the 'Flat Cap Gang' story at the mitchmen Google Group (Chap 133) but I didn't intentionally copy it. I thought I had invented something new! A spooky and humbling demonstration of the secret power of the subliminal mind.

I'm a sucker (as it were) for men in snugly-fitting, white underwear.

This military man seems to be rueing giving in to his impulses, but although we see him lying on a bed bottom up, it's not clear how far he has actually gone, his natty underpants look pristine at this point. If he's been picked up by a hulk like the one in the picture above though, it's possible he's irreversibly committed anyway, I suppose. In which case it's another example of a brave serviceman showing fear in the face of an invader.

I have this titled as a Navy Military Policeman, you can see he has the traditional square back collar shape although it's not differentiated from the rest of his uniform.

Uniforms are an irresistible attraction to many of us but I hope we wouldn't all go to these lengths to demonstrate our interest. The object of desire here seems to be a paratrooper judging by his badge and they are usually credited with being exceptionally well trained to look after themselves behind enemy lines. This Bluto-like character may find he's bitten off more than he can chew.

Of course it's probably just a couple of playful chums.

This tells the other side of the story with the soldier living up to the promise offered by his uniform - demonstrating power, assertiveness and a handy weapon. The intimidating hulk proves to be more sensitive and complicated than he looks.

This picture is a further variation on the eroticism of violating the sanctity of uniforms 
but I certainly can't accuse this one of lacking courage.

Two cops amuse themselves by employing their batons for a ball-beating challenge instead of using them to direct traffic. It's one of a series, a later picture shows one of them reflecting on the mound it has produced in his trousers.

This picture with it's painful test of manhood and the artist's curious way of depicting eyes, plus the cropped hair in earlier pictures reminds me very much of the Art of Andy Warlord who I plan to feature here in the new year. 

Even service men are allowed to have their own secret desires. At first sight it appears this one has been overpowered and gagged by some predator but the artist reveals to us that he has a secret fetish. Hidden beneath his uniform is a set of leather fetish regalia. We might suppose from his gag that he likes to be dominated in the uniquely ritualistic way that is leather S&M.

This curious way of trying to show erotic things that are normally hidden is a phenomenon that seems to be a particular feature of Asian art. It's more commonly used add explicitness in showing sexual penetration but this is a more interesting application. In effect it's trying to show us what goes on inside this man's mind. A sort of ying and yang image, although you might argue that a man in uniform is the embodiment of submission to a master anyway. The leather thongs merely add an explicit erotic dimension.

This image carries the same message, but less subtly. Ordinarily daubings like this are applied by someone else as a demonstration of their power, so the undressing action here is an act of voluntary submission in response to that. 

A man in the act of undressing always makes an interesting picture and this one cleverly combines two examples of that particularly sexy moment when the fastenings are undone and begin  to reveal what is underneath. In this case it includes an intriguing jockstrap with a military green waistband and a blue pouch covered with patterns which are vaguely reminiscent of camouflage but strangely suggestive of contents that are extremely interesting and full. Notice how the lower edge of the waistband detours round the mound. Nice.

There's a powerful sense of submission here too. A salacious detail is obscured on the left, but for me the main interest lies in the soldier's arching torso, bursting out of his uniform in a vivid demonstration of the real human inside. The depiction of his groin area is beautifully detailed but commendably restrained.

This is a great beefcake picture that combines the power imagery of a uniform with the accentuated masculinity of highly developed muscles. However, this image also seems to show there's a rather different, youthful and somewhat innocent creature within. He has just knelt at the altar of another man, communed and been duly anointed. This is the embarrassing comic aftermath and you get the impression that it wasn't exactly what he was expecting. 

Life is full of unexpected lessons!

Navy whites seem to have gone out of fashion as homoerotic dress but I personally am as entranced by them as ever I was in my youth (as you might guess from my current Royale obsession). I'm glad to see that Team52Crazy is carrying on the tradition.

Like the preceding image, there's a sense of experimentation here, with shades of Oztangles in the cum-splattered mirror. Bathroom selfies crop up in this artist's work quite often which reflects the modern day proliferation of such images on the internet. There's something quite sexy in this form of narcissism with it's overtones of private moments, modest men revealing their secret vanity and - in shared bathrooms - the lurking possibility of a stranger bursting in at the wrong moment.

In this picture one wonders just who was responsible for decorating the mirror so impressively, was it the selfie-taker or someone else who has left his mark behind for an admirer just as this? 

I don't speak Thai but the phone message in  this cartoon appears to be pointing out the relative merits of consuming different lengths of bananas (or something). The puzzlement of the butch-looking recipient is sexy but I'm not sure I know why!

~

This artist has multiple social network pages including Team52 @ Twitter and Team52 @Instagram but the best selection seems to be at Team52Crazy's facebook page. Most of the public art is censored or innocuous with a few exceptions but you get nice drawings of military men undressing or in suggestive situations. The adult content is (presumably) at Team52 @Patreon 

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Cas

 

Cas - Hustler

The 1960's artist Cas was an omission from my original A-Z series on fetish artists which seems unwarranted in retrospect. This image, one of his better known, probably explains why I left him out. The hustler clad in skin-tight leather pants has a splendid muscular body but Cas has depicted him as a coquettish vamp right down to the way he is holding his symbolically smouldering match in a pose worthy of Marlene Dietrich. 

It's not a look that grabs me erotically but I suppose I should have appreciated that Cas is emulating Marlene's deliberate, bold assertion of female sexuality and strength that completely debunked the 'little woman' conventions and restraints of her era. Cas's hustler is likewise mocking the stereotyping of gay men by owning and flaunting it. He oozes (almost literally it seems) self assurance and confidence. If you cover his face, the depiction of his muscularity is probably the most erotic in all of Cas's work.

Cas - Aperitif

In this brilliant picture, Cas flips the coin, poking fun at gays who adopt a façade of rough, butch-ness but cannot hide their self-consciously cultivated, inner-selves. This biker is a visual treat for leather lovers. He is beautifully drawn, casually sprawling across an antique chair, in torn, dishevelled clothes with unkempt hair and stubbled cheeks projecting an image that promises rough and dirty sex. There's a cleverly disguised outline of something big in his pants. However, his delicate cigarette holder and tiny glass of aperitif, reveal him to be highly refined. The shoulder-ribbons suggest he's something of a dandy too. 

You can also take this to be an Eliza Doolittle scenario where a tough is being taught manners by a man of a 'higher station' in life. That was not an uncommon experience for gay men back then. By necessity, they met anonymously in public places - toilets, discreet gay bars or clubs - where they were equally likely to meet a plumber or a professor, a rich man or a poor man, a young man or a pensioner, a soldier or a ballet dancer.

Cas - Director's Cut?

Humour runs through much of this artist's work but it's not without it's harder edges. It was commonplace in this era for actors to strip off and be chained up in 'sword and sandals' films. In this jokey take on that, the hapless, aspiring actor suddenly imagines that his role is about to be played out for real. That wouldn't really be funny at all - but it is sexy predicament.

The label to the left of the captive's foot says 'Intolerance Scene 1724', as though part of a long list of additions to DW Griffith's epic 1916 film, on the subject. 

It's ironic that the sadism of Christian story-telling and imagery has for centuries provided a cloak of legitimacy for homoerotic art that explores the darkest forms of  desire.

Cas - Laundromat

The 'mitchmen' blog has visited the laundromat scenario a few times recently (see Art of Oztangles 5 , 'Laundry Day' image for links) but you might be surprised to learn that Cas beat Nick Kamen to it by about 20 years. It's another wry dig at the 'butch biker' image of course but he's done it by taking a common, semi-clad, beefcake magazine pose and dropping it into a real world setting where the erotic implications of the residual cap and boots are enhanced and can ferment in the pants of imaginative viewers. 

The oppressive restrictions of the day deterred him from suggestively showing another man in the image, although a cartoon woman or women registering some sort of comic response, like that in a 'saucy' seaside postcard by McGill would have probably have been perfectly OK.

Smoking cigarettes features in many of his pictures. In those days it was a near-universal practice, often characterised as masculine and expected of you if you wanted to fit in.

Cas - Roughhouse

This image shows the sort of scenario that might have been triggered by that innocent, laundry image. Ostensibly a dramatic wrestling scene it's pretty obvious on further inspection that this man is being enthusiastically helped out of his jeans by the other two. They are both essentially naked as far as we can see, leaving the strong suspicion that his underpants will ultimately go the same way but it's left to us to imagine why. The wooden boarding at the back and the cap and boots worn by one of the combatants look rather like sea-faring imagery and since posting I have stumbled across a copy of this drawing labelled equally clearly as being by Holzmann, part of a series called 'Merchant Navy'. I am still looking into whether they are aliases for the same person.

Cas - Bar Fight

Fight scenes were a legitimate way of showing men interacting in a highly physical manner with their inadvertently ripped clothes exposing sexy flesh. Cas here seems to rely more on the ambiguity caused by relatively featureless, skin-tight clothing. A scattering of playing cards provides a simple excuse for the argument if not the extensive semi-nudity (strip poker doesn't usually get this heated)!  

The scenario is a blank canvas for placing men in close proximity to one another in all sorts of undignified states which is exactly what Cas has done. The careful juxtaposition of bulging crotches, rounded backsides and phallic bottles do the rest. 

This image contains an (Heavenly) host of hidden eroticism. At this time of year I'm tempted to ask readers how many they can spot! The most notable for me is the champagne glass held aloft, as if to an optic in a bar, poised to catch the produce of the bulge directly above. The man holding it is distracted by a curvaceous ass emblazoned with the Cas logo in a way that accentuates it's shape, like a tattoo.

Cas could not have imagined that magazine staples would make an eyewatering S&M addition when the image was published. Or am I underestimating the cunning of  the artist - or the magazine editor? It is a very curiously precise, vertical alignment after all. 

Etienne - Bar Brawl

Etienne also did a bar-room brawl around this time, with sailors. It's a simpler, more fragmented composition but offers a more direct sensuality with the use of colour accentuating the revelatory effect of ripped clothing. There is one notable 'hidden' erotic reference, however, in the pair of sailors far left who could be construed as enjoying a hand job. Etienne's men are remarkably handsome and adult (I love that dishy blond on the floor!) but they are arguably less real and less varied than those of Cas in the preceding picture.

Cas - Balancing Above

Cas loved to depict tight jeans which was the most legitimate way for a man to dress sexily in those days. The biker jacket slung across naked shoulders was a classy embellishment - 1960's cool if you like. Around this time there was also a fashion for low waisted trousers with tiny zips and this picture seems to reflect that trend. Cas, like Oztangles, was abreast of what was fashionable. The upwards looking viewpoint accentuates the effect of the tight jeans and suggests a dominant personality.

This is an exceptionally well-drawn image, breezing through a tricky perspective. 

*Compare with Etienne's skewed bar room perspectives  

Cas - Tights

Although I'm not fond of the way Cas drew eyes, this picture seems very sexy to me with a pugnacious, insolent face (which might have been a prototype for The Hun's trademark blond convict) set atop a muscular torso (glimpsed through an open shirt) and patterned tights that accentuate thick thighs. 

This isn't so much a portrait as a vehicle for erotic characteristics. The patterned tights seem to be those of a circus performer but the sword and distant seagulls point to him being a pirate. These two professions were blurred together of course in the swashbuckling movies of the day starring ex-circus performers like Burt Lancaster - in tights.

Cas - Gardener in Ledehosen Shorts

The half-dressed gardener is the mitchmen brand image and has been the suggestive, saucy background  decoration of numerous adverts and film scenes, most of which post-date this image. 

The clothing of this young man accentuates his physique in a similar way to that in the tights picture above. Here too the open shirt looks as if it is being pulled tight by something hidden inside his shorts. The tattered sleeves are augmented in this image by a tear on one shoulder but are completely missing on the other revealing hairy arms (another brawler?).

He has deliberately turned up his leather shorts, far more than seems necessary for doing his job, but accentuating his hairy thighs and flaunting his masculinity. The prominent pouch does the same job even more directly. He stands, hand on hip with a serious, pouty face, looking like a rebellious teenager whose just been told he's got to do an extra hours. 

You might prefer to see him as confronting someone out of the picture, warning him not to try and interfere with that tempting flap. 

~

Cas was a regular contributor to beefcake magazines in the 1960's but he hasn't acquired the same lasting fame as his contemporary, Etienne, although he was arguably a better draftsman. Etienne had a canny eye for the commercial and played safe with his characterisations, he was also bolder with his subject matter. For all his sharp satire Cas stays within the tradition of innuendo and hidden artifice. 

No direct link for Cas I'm afraid, but there's lots of his images to be unearthed at Tim in Vermont

Oztangles Retrospective 5

The gay art of Oztangles
Read this mitchmen series from Part 1

2020

Oztangles - The Temple 02

Oztangles produced a series of images in 2020 called 'The Temple' and in this one he creates the atmosphere of a sacrificial chamber with a captive lying spread-eagled across Oz's favourite altar stone. Before him stands a monk-like guard armed with a very sharp-looking machete.  

Two more men are suspended from nearby pillars looking on as they await their own fate. Meanwhile they are being utilised as light sources having been fitted with somewhat incongruous, leather fetish gags which are apparently come supplied with an ingenious, candle sconce accessory that you won't get from Ikea. Judging by the skeletons dangling just behind the altar, this is a long term commitment. 

Oz's rendering of anatomy and clothing reaches impressive levels here, but the background architecture is a bit flat. He dips into perilous waters with his retro, Afro-cum-Oceanic characterisation of the High Priest.

Oztangles - The Temple 06

The denouement turns out to be more prosaic as the intimidating guard melts away leaving the principals to get down to some dirty work.

A nicely balanced composition with good suspension imagery. 

Oztangles - Zane in Trouble

Suspension is the main focus of this image with a captive about to be dipped into water. The men are clad in traditional leather fetish gear but the setting has the feel of a modern workshop. It's a background Oz has used to good effect in other images. Here it all looks surprisingly clean and clinical.  

An ingenious transparent container is used for the dunking water. It gives a stronger sense that Zane is being lowered into it, not just suspended above it. It looks a tightish fit too, with not much scope for Zane to struggle, let alone lifting his head out of the water once he is dipped in it. 
These two are not playing games.

The character at the controls on the left has an other worldly quality about him that is quite sinister with dark, unreal skin toning and a fierce face that resembles the vengeful characters seen in medieval paintings and statues. Zane's pointing finger suggests he is attempting to negotiate a reprieve.

Oztangles  - Big Mistake

The man in this image seems to have made a surprising choice for the location of what seems to be his first tattoo. I can't say I'm qualified to comment on just how painful this is and, since tattoos feature in Oz's images infrequently, I suspect he is commenting from the side-lines too. Judging by his erectile state the recipient is finding some compensation in the caring hands of the tattooist, if not the needle itself - or maybe it's the combination of the two that is so stimulating. 

I'm no expert but the way the needle is being applied here doesn't look conventional. One might wish the tattoist would be showing more concentration on the task in hand and surely he doesn't need to spread his legs quite that wide!

The tattooing scenario disguises the sexual implications of this scenario only thinly, but there's a second, less obvious layer to the eroticism. It's the customer's right hand, tightly gripping the armrest of the chair. It also appears to be resting in the tattooist's crotch, indeed it's easy to mistake his wrist with a suggestive body part belonging to the other man. In its way, this element is a mini-masterpiece of  hidden eroticism that the old masters of gay art would have greatly appreciated. 

Oz has managed to find some interesting and authentic-looking background detail for this picture which greatly enhances it. For once there isn't a dildo in sight.

Oztangles - Zdeno's Workout 1

I rather like this straightforward piece showing a boxer beefing up in a gym. It's a place which we've visited several times before in this retrospective (see Part 4, covering 2015-19). If you've seen those images there are no prizes for guessing what happens to the mirror in the companion piece to this picture - Zdeno's Workout 2 (Clue #1:- he's naked in it, Clue #2 see below).

2021

Oztangles - Quarantine Wank

Lest we forget, 2020-21 gave the word 'isolation' a whole new meaning. For gay men obsessed with cruising the deprivation must have been at least the equal of the more well-publicised traumas.
The very term 'lock down' must have seemed a cruel irony 

This image celebrates the consolation prize God left with men, for use when they weren't required for procreation. You probably remember that we have seen other versions of this memorable, sexy pose  at mitchmen blog. 

Oz's cum-spattered mirror seems to have become something of an obsession, extending back a long way (e.g. 2015), well before the virus struck, but the 'virtual' partner seen in the reflection acquired a new vividness in those months of isolation. The 'Angel' character goes back even further to 2009  and has made other sporadic appearances since then (notably in 2019). His imaginary wings that which might have allowed him to fly away to freedom became a poignant symbol in a period that was a time of introspection and nostalgia for the old days.

And who believed the politicians who said Covid would become the new normal? 
They actually got it right for once, dammit!

Oztangles - Ed's Nightmare 05

The centrepiece of 2021's offerings has to be 'Ed's Nightmare' in which he is abducted from his bed by a military gang and handed over in shackles to the leather clad thug we see in this picture. In a typically Oz, high-tech torture chamber he is mounted in a metal spreader frame in front of a TV camera which is dispassionately recording every moment of his nightmare. 

 The X-frame and spread-eagle pose is standard bdsm imagery, but combining it with suspension is less common and very disorienting for the recipient. Oz manages to infuse Ed's limbs with a degree of tension that make it look genuinely stretched. His body shaping and skin tones are softly succulent and the dramatic, ethnic tattoo on his backside accentuates his vulnerability and nudity. 

Those grey demonic skin tones seen in 'Zane in Trouble' (above) surface again in this villain (if you view him as one). He sits back contemplating his prey and  allowing Ed plenty of time to assess him in return, wondering what he is planning to do with him. Meanwhile the camera catches every minute.

Oztangles - Ed's Nightmare 11

Ed is subjected to a series of torments without ever leaving the frame. Many of them utilise electricity and this, the last scene, is arguably the most dramatic. Notice the time that has elapsed during this demanding examination. His feet have been lowered closer to the ground, perhaps to achieve electrical grounding, but he can still only reach it with his toes. The curious balancing on curled toes here seems to reference ballet technique, a painful way to support body weight for the untrained - and it looks it here, although it's not clear whether the frame is obliging him to do that in this set-up.

Oztangles - Tony's Adventure 06

'Tony's Adventure', by contrast is far less traumatic. He is tempted into a strip club by a 'Men Only' promise. After enjoying the show he goes exploring and finds the delectable stripper expecting visitors in his dressing room. Tony is portrayed as a chunky, ordinary man who is probably delighted by the stripper's eagerness to serve him. Its a dream come true that was never expected. 

All of us can relate to that. 

There's a hint of mild S&M in the toys which Tony can see draped over the chairback and on the dressing table beyond (seen by us in the mirror). The shiny thing in his groin is proves to be a chunky cock-ring later, but who fitted it is not revealed.

Oztangles - Tony's Adventure 09

Tony gets to sample one of the dildos in the finale but he's had the pleasure of the stripper's ass in the mean-time. This is the nearest the stripper gets to returning the favour. Clearly Tony isn't disappointed and there's a nice sense of  playfulness here which shows the hunky stripper to be a thoroughly nice bloke, happy to give this somewhat unprepossessing stranger an experience to remember and cherish.

Oztangles - Tony's Adventure 07

This is an intermediate scene. Normally I would pass over an image like this since it's frequently replicated in every porn film you've ever seen and most homoerotic art. But I think Oz has made an exceptionally good job of it here. Tony's pose is perfection and his chunky physique is transformed into an idealised form that any man would appreciate. Paradoxically, the slender stripper unexpectedly exhibits gloriously chunky thighs, an exaggeration that I appreciate. His sitting position has no hint of submissiveness, he's comfortable giving service. Nice.

Oztangles - Laundry Day 01

This is a more everyday fantasy, which was memorably invoked in 1985 (but not fulfilled) in the Nick Kamen launderette ad for Levi jeans and also in one of my own ramblings My Beautiful Launderette. Like the 'Tony' series this story features a man whose outward appearance might be considered unattractive by some, in this case because he is wearing spectacles. 

By contrast his opposite number is a classic, desirable hunk with a trendy, undercut hairstyle, an enviable physique and skimpy cut-off shorts intended to make sure everyone notices him. But in an unusual twist on the 'Unattainable Bar Man' syndrome, it's he who falls for the Laundromat attendant - or his ass at any rate - as he watches him tending the machines.

Oztangles - Laundry Day 05

Inevitably the spectacles have to be discarded as soon as the attendant gets down on his knees to show his appreciation . A routine sex episode follows but it climaxes (as it were) is this unusual, wheelbarrow position which suggests to me that this dumb hunk is something of a sexual athlete. Or perhaps the bespectacled attendant is a very good teacher.

Oztangles - Pier Street Sunday Morning

This image is also based on an unusual pose, but it is really a commonplace sight on city streets and at surfer beaches. Oz transforms the imagery by making the city skateboarder a grown up man and stripping away his clothing to reveal an emphatically adult and well-honed physique. The resulting figure study seems surprisingly original and his twisted body and balancing pose is comparable in beauty to the male statues of antiquity - just imagine the skateboard replaced by a discus or a javelin in his hand. However, this modern, over-grown kid is much sexier. 

This is one of those render pictures where it's hard to tell where the software leaves off and the artistry begins, but for me it's the result that counts and this is a great result. It's one of several images in 2021 where Oz explores athletic, unconventional body poses (like the wheelbarrow and quarantine images above) and it's much to the benefit of his art.

Oztangles - Naughty Corner 02

The title of this piece prepares you for another S&M romp but in fact this is more chuck-flick than bdsm. It shows the moment when Mario, the sub is freed from his chastity cage and tether after 3 weeks in isolation for dilly-dallying with the plumber. Oz does not indicate whether the formidable electrical installation nearby has figured in this punishment.

 The sub-title to this scene is 'Keep still, dammit, the key's stuck!'  So it's actually a comic moment with the master kneeling, apologetically almost, before his hyper -frustrated slave. 

Another cum-splattered mirror seems in prospect.

Oztangles - A Busy Day (detail)

I won't leave 2021 without mentioning this series, entitled 'Execution'. It's a frank and disturbing telling of a grisly tale with a twist of cynical exploitation thrown in. Coming from this artist, it's unexpected. I have covered noose art here at mitchmen before (see 'noose' label at foot of the post for other posts on the subject) but this detail is all I intend to show of Oz's challenging contribution to the genre. 

You can view the whole sequence at the link given at the end of this post. 

2022

Oztangles - Punishment Cell 01

Oztangle's 2022 work is dominated by the Punishment Cell series. It picks up the theme of isolation as punishment which featured also in Naughty Corner (just above). However, in this case it's a Military Punishment for answering back. The nudity of the prisoner here doesn't quite fit with that background and the chastity device on a chain which is only just long enough to allow him use the bucket seems to take us into Guantanamo country. It seems that he is in the midst of relieving his (understandable) anxieties when the disciplinarian Sergeant Vane arrives wearing his 'wet work' outfit and bringing rope and blood-curdling promises.

Oztangles - Punishment Cell 03

Jack, the hapless offender is released from his chain, but only to be trussed for punishment on a bloodstained table. Hopefully, the assorted implements on the bottom shelf mean the torments planned for him will be bloodless. 

The tight leg restraint shown here is a tie that has long excited me, going way back to the 'My Initiation' image. It's ultimately a demanding stress position and often features (without ropes) in wrestling contests. Tied like this, I doubt that Jack could achieve the back-lift shown, unaided.

Oztangles - Punishment Cell 05

Sgt Vane's ropework ultimately results in this neat shibari packaging coupled with suspension (again). The Sgt proceeds to torment imaginatively Jack's unprotected, vulnerable areas. 

This is a further example of Oztangle's interest in unusual, stressed positions for the male body which seemed to begin in 2021. Technically it's a significant advance from the simple X-Spreading deployed in Ed's Nightmare (see above) and several other Oz images.  For the observer this tight, self-contained restraint causes the erotic focus to shift from the body of the prisoner to the restraint mechanism. 

This tight relative of the hog-tie position is very hard to capture, even in photographs, so Oz has done well here. The eternal rendering problem of achieving a snug-looking fit with clothing and (here) rope doesn't prevent him from producing a great, stimulating image.

Oztangles - Punishment Cell 08

Sgt Vane is not without a sense of humour. He expounds the theory of chaotic movement as he swings Jack on the suspension chain with weights attached to his nipples and balls and going in different directions. Oz manages to capture a real sense of swinging movement in this picture and his contrasting characterisations of the two men work well too. The more subtle bdsm of this image lies in the tweaking of Jack's arms as he swings, heavily weighted on the chain.

Oztangles - Punishment Cell 10

Lesson learned,  Jack formally makes amends in the time-honoured, homoerotic way. 

Offering service while tied up is not uncommon in fetish imagery but I can't recall it being portrayed in quite this way before. Oz emphasises Jack's restraint and submissiveness, rather than the sexual exchange. This position, formally kneeling with head-bowed, departs from the usual 'oral' formula whereby the sucker is expected to look up at his master as though entranced with him and anxious to know that he's doing the job correctly.  

By contrast Jack's pose looks detached and rather dignified and it is intensely appealing.  

Oztangles - Five More Minutes

This image relies on a similar use of weights to torment, but with the focus on simple endurance rather than rough tugging. Once again, Oz does well to create a real impression of stretching with the captive forced to stand on tip-toes. It's a virtually inescapable form of restraint and immobilisation and it's pure simplicity heaps frustration on top for the captive. His agonised expression gives a real sense of that his thresholds are already being tested to the limit and the announcement (in the title) of an extension to his designated time is adding anger to his difficulties.

The tormentor's slightly unkempt and grizzled appearance contrasts with the college boy neatness of his test subject and predictably he's completely indifferent to the poor man's mute appeal. Characteristically abreast of the latest trends, Oz shows him taking a photo of his discomfort and helpless captivity. It adds a little twist of sadistic humiliation with the further threat of a public airing of his plight for the amusement of strangers - and possibly those who know him.

These two make an improbable couple, but Oz des not enlighten us on what has brought them together in this way.

Oztangles - The Night Before

This image may offer a clue to that puzzle. It seems to show the same older man, but dressed in an unexpectedly professional manner. He's approaching a younger street hustler who's neatly dressed and clean looking, but provocatively appealing. More fantasy than reality alas. He has a similar appearance to the prisoner in the preceding picture.

Oztangles - The Morning After

The companion image shows a very different outcome with both parties having ended up in a seedy hotel(?) room, naked and apparently unfulfilled. It harks back to the 2019 Night Clerk image which seemed to embody a similar sense of disillusion and disappointment. In another Oz reversal of the usual, depressing rules of life, it seems to be the prodigiously equipped young hunk who has not come up to the mark.

Oztangles - Imperial Guard

This is Oz's latest posting at Renderotica as I write. 

Here's to 2023!

Read this mitchmen series from Part 1

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Oztangle's work is not always perfectly crafted but there a plenty of impressive highlights. He explores interesting bdsm themes but also more commonplace feelings which ordinary mortals can relate to.

There's an extensive collection of Oztangles at Renderotica which is free to join. The filters applied to some works don't always stop you viewing them, but they're not always as exciting as you might hope!