Mitchell's A to Z of Fetish Artists - Bishop

Bishop's erotic art is all about bondage and is almost mainstream heterosexual in it's appearance and subject matter. For example he features figures tied up in strange, uncomfortable but almost glamourous positions. In fact you often wonder whether they are really meant to be women despite the obvious outward evidence. His pictures vary in quality a great deal. In the more polished work the characters have a strange waxy appearance.

Mitchell's A to Z of Fetish Artists - Belasco

Belasco's work, with it's uncompromisingly Black American focus is not totally fetish but he makes extensive use of it and his regular hero - Boo (illustrated) - though big, assertive and muscular is often on the receiving end of it. I've noticed an interest in foot fetish in recent work. The style of his drawing is free flowing and confident and his best pictures are full of drama and movement in the best traditions of comics. My only gripe is that the line drawing technique which helps to achieve this drama usually means that the figures are generally less sensual in appearance.
http://belascocomix.blogspot.com

Mitchell's A to Z of Fetish Artists - Bastille (updated Feb 2020)

Bastille - Flipper

 Bastille's art is stylish and unashamedly erotic, sleazy even. He has an deep interest in the physicality of male attraction and the process of 'hooking up' with a prospective partner.
This pin-ball player observed in a bar epitomises the attractions of 'rough trade'.

Bastille - Metro

He often observes skinhead men, this one depicted in a Paris Metro station, the one from which he apparently took his artist name. Skinheads are usually associated with aggression but this one is sending out signals of a different sort.

Bastille - Bag

An encounter in a locker room seemingly initiated by direct intimate contact rather than clever chat-up lines. The dirty clothing, the work boots and the bag of mysterious equipment show where this is heading. The man in blue correcting his dress seems 'curious' about it. Finding a partner who shares an interest in deep sleaze must be enormously difficult and the excitement of making contact can only be imagined by more conventional souls. Bastille's fascination with that search is easy to understand.

Bastille - Discovery

A man in overalls allows himself to be undressed and fondled by another who has a rough, gangsterish appearance. The exchange of looks here between the experienced man leading the way and his uncertain, but clearly receptive, prospect is marvellous. The green tint of their skins suggests a mysterious, secretive  atmosphere.

I don't know if the title is Bastille's, but it is deliciously ambiguous, able to refer to either of this unlikely pair discovering the other, or to their hidden feelings emerging, or it may simply reference the body part through which they are making their physical connection, which can just be discerned at the foot of the image. I imagine there's an uncensored version somewhere but I haven't found it.

Bastille's images often come with inscriptions or cryptic notes, but they are usually hand written (and difficult to read). This one seems to have a borrowed text that charts the seduction of a garage mechanic and his initiation into darker arts than are actually shown in the picture. Whilst it fits Bastille's subject-matter I don't know if this is original. However the suggested outcome adds an element of excitement to their image and attaches a whole new significance to the title.

Bastille - Rub-a-dub (detail)

Bastille's work leads us into mysterious, earthy practices. Painted in slightly washed out colours, characters with exotic outfits, masks and tubes manoeuvre and wallow in their sexuality.

 The example shown is a detail from a larger picture which shows of a grotesque orgy of male sensuality. As it takes place a man sits in his bathtub behind the curtain watching, fascinated, but intimidated by what he sees. The boat here appears to symbolise his naivety and to be both hiding and pointing out the physical manifestation of his interest. The orgy unveils outwards towards the right as though indicative of the journey of discovery that lies ahead of him. A condom draped over the rim of the bath suggests it's a journey already started.

Bastille - Pigs

This is one of Bastille's less challenging orgies, the appelation 'pig' ('schwein' in German) appears often in his pictures signifying the mutual desire of these men for earthy, sensual experiences.
These slender bubble-bottomed men are more typical of Bastille's output than the muscular beefcake of the 'boat' picture above. Their ordinary appearance makes their activities seem more real and hence more challenging to the unconverted. 

Bastille - Corporal Familiarity

This slightly odd imagining with two men bound together by straps and chains
 seems to exemplify Bastille's search for ever-deeper intimacy and sharing.
The complex leather and rubber attire makes it highly ritualistice.
The hands plunging into the boots at the bottom are unexpectedly erotic.

Bastille - Grotesque (detail)

Some pictures have a Breugel-like, surreal appearance - hell and monsters in this example.
You should have no difficulty finding the unsensored version via the links below.

Bastille - Rubber Party

Here the warm palettes of the old masters and their crowded scenes showing the torments of damnation provide a template for a wild celebration of male sexuality which rejects those warnings.
Bastille's artistic sensibility gives these images a substance that demands respect

Bastille- Ride a Cock Horse

Bastille's erotica is pervaded by a deep sense of ritual, seen not just in the spectacular orgy scenes but also in the attention he pays to cruising and acquiring prospective partner. That ritual is usually cloaked in the paraphenalia of rubber fetish but in this picture he uses more stereotypical allusions. This exotic costumery references the historical imagery of Samurai warriors and Roman soldiers blended with  masks and serpent-like tongues to create an intense and mysterious ceremony for an initiate, with the collar and chain symbolising his subservience.

I'm uncertain about the meaning of the fishnet stockings, but they are sexy. Bastille doesn't seem to be interested in gender identity, but he does seem to subscribe to the ancient traditions of mentoring and men serving their elders until they reach full maturity.

For once the lighting is bright and pastel shaded and despite the exaggerated, explicit eroticism it's not sleazy. There is a formality to the scene that seems have an almost religious air. The nursery rhyme title is self-mocking. This has the feel of a picture that has a message and is intended to be displayed.

Bastille's pictures are serious art, his artistic sensibility pervades them all, even those with challenging erotic content.


There's a useful collection and biography at Bastille 1929-1990
also at SLM Stockholm and Daddy's Here 

Mitchell's Picture - Astronaut (Study)

This rough study shows an astronaut setting out to explore new territory. I have always found the low collars on astronauts space suits quite erotic but sadly skin tight suits like this have yet to materialise. I have to own up that I heavily based this image on another artists illustration in a book of science fiction short stories. As well as the cut of the suit I was attracted by the snaking oxygen tube and way the belt and helmet straps were depicted using a very simple pattern to show elasticity. Unfortunately I have not kept a record of the artist's name to give them proper credit.

I have seen criticism made of artists who draw inspiration from other's work and even try to recreate it. However it is a normal way for an illustrator to learn new techniques and skills. One only has to look at the different styles of the artists in my A-Z articles to see how different ways of drawing a figure create different effects. An artist can learn a lot by copying someone else's techniques and artistic shorthand. Even the old masters had their schools of followers using identical techniques to imitate their style.

The belt effect in this picture was part of a learning process for me and although I can't recall if I have used this particular device again the snaking straps are evident in many of my pictures including the masthead to this blog.

Going back to the picture subject, this is the only astronaut picture in my work to date. The front view would be quite interesting to draw but I don't have any plans for a series with this theme. 'The space suit is a bit of a barrier and the problem of undressing a spaceman in a hostile environment is a big deterrent for my methodical mind! Also I'm not very interested in drawing non-human characters.

Mitchell's A to Z of Fetish Artists - Letter 'B'

Artists beginning with 'B'This letter provides a very strong set of contenders for best fetish artist. In short listing them I had excluded artists whose work is computer generated such as Bondageskin and Boomer. I like their work very much but I don't want to compare conventional art and CG Art in this series because I think they are apples and pears. I'll look at CG artists separately. So, for the letter 'B' I have chosen :- Bastille, Belasco, Bishop, R.J.Blake, Bondex and Brick. This list excludes some notable artists such as Bush and Beau whom I have excluded because they are not 'fetishy' enough - although they have dabbled.

Mitchell's A to Z of Fetish Artists - Letter A conclusion

My tour of fetish artists beginning with 'A' has covered a wide range of styles. From Ajay's funny and sexy cartoons to Axel's complex and colourful renderings of original and fantastical situations. I like them all for different reasons - Adam's boyish heroes and Augustine's tightly strapped victims. In picking a favourite I am torn between the sheer stylish quality and inventiveness of Axel's work and the Mature masculinity of Amir's. It's a hard choice but I have to go for the harder edge of Amir's work.

The next segment in this series will be a perusal of the Artists beginning with letter 'B' - Blake, Bondex, Brick ......mmmm!

Mitchell's A to Z of Fetish Artists - Augustine (revised 2018)

Flexibility Training

Augustine shows men tightly restrained in improbable and fiendishly painful positions. The use of comprehensive strapping and awkward positions are the essence of control of course and highly erotic. His style is more sophisticated than it looks with graphic design influences in the shading and highlighting technique. It has much in common with that of the fem-dom bondage artist Eric Stanton.

Enema

Augustine also has a fondness for enema punishments. The crouch positioning of this subject draws attention (unusually) to the stress of retention rather than the discomfort of internal bloating which seems to interest most illustrators of this procedure. 

The faces are simply drawn and usually obscured with gags and strapping which is a loss for me - I like to see expressions. There's a suggestion here of a good-looking young man with a decent body but generally the figures lack this much character. The puffed out cheeks are the trademark of another fem-dom artist 'Emma', the distortion of a man's means of seduction being a very unsubtle female punishment. There are also interesting similarities to Franco's early style in the treatment of the background detail. 

Hooked Up

I think this may be Augustine's best known image and there's more similarity to Franco's style here in the marvellous complexity of the equipment and the shading technique (although I'm not suggesting any direct linkage). There's something delightfully naive in the improvisatory arrangements here, with the captive balanced precariously on a wedge-like stand constructed from piping and a rudimentary, bargain basement, shelving system which houses not only complex fluid circulating equipment but more mundane (and subtle) torments such as Castor oil. I like the way the catheter tubing twines round the upright.

MummyMilkin'

 This image takes the objectification of men to the extreme, reducing them to sex organs and orifices which are all connected up to a giant storage tank ass though on a production line. In all these pictures there's not a great sense that the artist actually likes men that much nor sees their equipment as objects of desire. Their personalities are reduced to fearful staring eyes.

In fact these images are cropped from larger fem dom illustrations and although the creator is a man you'll be in no doubt about where his interests lie if you see the way he draws women. His art expresses self-abasement and submission rather than gay domination. There's an extensive blog of his work at Augustine's Art but don't expect to see man on man action. His Deviant Art page is entirely devoted to women.

If you want to know more about Augustine, there's an interview here

DMref831@1803