Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Les

Les Farnak's pictures are quite well known and show captive men being humiliated and sadistically tortured. The pictures are highly atmospheric and even when the scene depicted is an encounter between leather men there is a sense that something mysterious and unpleasant is going on.

Les - Lick My Boots

In his most striking scenes the captors are the military or police and they are depicted in a way that might be comic in other circumstances but here it dehumanises them and you feel they might be capable of anything. You can tell boot licking is just a starter, as the prisoner is still wearing his jeans. The frightened captive's plaintive expression tells us he feels the same threat.

Les - Police Brutality

The brutality towards the struggling victim who is being overpowered ready for torture or service to his captors is depicted in an uncompromising way,. There is a tremendous dramatic tension in this picture, the impressive solidity of the guards contrasts with the lightly sketched naked figure of the terrified prisoner and creates a real sense of domination and forced submission.

Les - Inquisition Dungeon

Les produced a series of pictures showing men clad in armour with Norse-like or Teutonic winged helmets presiding over a dungeon of horrors. Their strange garb is extremely unsettling and creates a sense of evil and dread. The picture shown here has a similar 'Inquisition' theme. This is one of my favourites, the naked prisoner is forced down winding steps and is about to see what his captors plan to do to him. The prisoner is no wimp but he is dwarfed by his escort whose strange hood radiates menace.

I find the nudity of the prisoner in this picture quite riveting, the hints of muscle tone and fuzzy hair in the shading are almost indistinguishable from each other and create an almost impressionistic idea of masculine beauty. (Contrast this with Cavello's use of light and dark which is quite brutal in comparison). In Les' picture, the central area of light draws the eye in towards the prisoner and his stance deflects you onwards into the dungeon scene below. It is a very clever composition and Les did a few other variations on it but I think this is the best.

Les makes great use of clothing and nudity to convey power and vulnerability but, in a way, the nudity is not erotic in itself. In the Inquisition picture you hardly notice the guard's organ at first and it doesn't add greatly to the power of the picture. Likewise in the police brutality picture the prisoner's face is the only part of him shown in detail, almost as if Les is not particularly interested in the sensuality of the naked body.

Les - Punished with the crop

He is interested in faces, however. The victims show pain, confusion, pleading. The captor's expressions are often hidden by helmets, dark glasses etc but when their faces are revealed they have mean, narrowed, frowning eyes and the pointed moustaches all conveying an air of cold menace and cruelty. In some pictures, exaggerated jutting chins and thick bull necks add raw power to the mix. Beyond these characteristics the faces are relatively featureless and hence expressionless, only the lightest of shading defines the basic shape and major features and this in itself makes them seem quite alien. No wonder the naked victims tremble in fear and confusion!

Les has his own distinctive style where shading is accomplished by cross-hatching of varying densities. His depiction of muscle shapes is very understated and outlines are often not hard either so there is a softness and granularity about the best pictures. The poor reproduction quality of much of his generally available work exaggerates this and makes the picture murky and indistinct but perversely it adds atmosphere too.

Les's work explores the darker realms of S&M in a most imaginative way and deserves a prominent place in my hall of fame.

I can't ID a working link for this artist but a search of GMBA (see sidebar) should turn up more examples. I'd welcome up to date link info from readers of this blog

Update June 2010 - there's a new article at Frglee with more pics and bio.

For other articles in this series click on the A-Z label below.

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Leon

Leon - Bootlicker

This mitchmen article is now superceded by a revised and enlarged review (2022)

Not a prolific fetishist as far as I know but this image is iconic. The subject is not actually tied up and the boots are not being worn by anyone - suggesting a private fantasy is going on. This adds all sorts of psychological overtones and invites the viewer to interpret what he sees and fantasise himself. The absence of legs disappearing out of the top of the picture (as for example in the famous Tom image) strengthens the composition, keeping the viewer's focus and interest firmly inside the frame.

I like the scrunched up socks and underwear which look sexy and tell you something about the man himself. The flesh toning and depiction of hair is sensual too creating an sense of solidity and sexual desirability. Looking at this picture gives a real insight into the boot licking fetish.

I can't ID a working link for this artist but a search of gay art groups should turn up more examples. I'd welcome up to date link info from readers of this blog

For other articles in this mitchmen series click on the A-Z label below.

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Leo

Leo Ravenswood is one of the most important bondage artists. Leo was much in demand in the heyday of magazines like Drummer. His importance lies not so much in the quality of his drawings but their subject matter. He covered the more exotic byways of bondage fetish such as pony training, lace up restraints and body bags, head harnesses and suspension.

Leo - Ranch Fun

His captives are forced into restraining sleeves and made to adopt awkward positions which are both painful and humiliating (see Ranch Fun). This picture is not completely convincing at a technical level but it's a great idea! 

This type of bondage derives from corsetry and has long been used in female bondage imagery. Given the era in which Leo came to the fore it's possible he was influenced by that and took it as his lead. His characters are shown with the standard indicators of maleness popular at the time - long hair and bushy moustaches, but they have also a slightly feminine air which becomes more exaggerated as their bondage ritual proceeds.

Leo - Pony Escape

They frequently are made to wear boots with high heels - albeit chunky Cuban ones. (see Pony Escape) Perhaps he liked that duality or perhaps he was simply adapting the glamour art of his day which was exclusively based on women.

Pony Escape comes from Leo's long story - 'The Estate' which is the story of a character who is drawn into a secret organisation which recruits men and keeps them in captivity to serve wealthy clients. The main plotline is a simple love and jealousy triangle, but Leo's exploration of the hierarchy and functioning of the Estate and it's repertoire of unusual punishments is fascinating.

Leo - Roy and Ray

These two supporting characters in the story are unusual for Leo in that they do not sport long hair nor moustaches and for me this is a frustrating glimpse of what might have been! (see Roy and Ray)

Leo - Bedtime Bondage

Leo's pictures are cartoon-like and the anatomy and perspective is patchy. Likewise the level of detail varies but he always pays great attention to the detail of the bondage devices. 

Probably it is the inventiveness of his subject matter which is most impressive and the very personal exploration of his subject - like the Bedtime Bondage picture from 'The Estate'. This simple image is un-sexual in some ways, the characters are even separated by the bed cover! You can read Freudian conflicts into this if you like, but maybe it's trying to express something deeper than pure sex. 'The Estate' storyline is full of yearnings for love and companionship. I think this picture tries to depict what bondage signifies in a real relationship - something the porn factory ignores. 

I could have chosen many, many pictures to illustrate Leo's abilities, a luxury I have rarely enjoyed in this series and that is tribute in itself. Sadly, to modern eyes the appeal of Leo's work is hampered by his choice of masculine stereotypes (which haven't stood the test of time), the flavours of femininity and the lack of visual sensuality in his technical style. This does not diminish his achievement or his status as a leading proponent of exotic bondage.

Read Leo's full story of 'The Estate'

I can't ID a link for this artist but a search of gay art groups should turn up more examples. 

I welcome link info from readers of this blog

For other articles in this series click on the A-Z label below.

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - 'LCR'

LCR - Bat's Quiet Time

LCR has produced a number of images depicting bondage. The cartoon style is simple but elegant, the figures here are well observed. In some work he shows Manga influences with ambiguous 'man-child' characters but in this picture the participants are healthily mature. I like his take on Batman, which is more virile than the film and TV versions.

I can't ID a link for this artist but a search of gay art groups should turn up more examples. I welcome link info from readers of this blog

For other articles in this series click on the A-Z label below.

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - The Letter 'L'

For the letter 'L' we again have some pretty good artists to review, including a number who are no longer producing new work - Leo, Les, Losarro, Lowenhaupt - plus Logan and Link from the present day.

Lundqvist - Jail Bird

To start with, though, I want to feature an artist who isn't really a fetishist at all but I admire his style and found one relevant picture so I just wanted to feature him to kick off this letter. Lundqvist draws the type of square-jawed handsome man that I find irresistible. Even if they aren't blue eyed and blond. The sight of such a man in chains is highly erotic even if it is not explicit. The style is a sort of comic realism which is visually pleasing and colourful.

This picture also shows the general ability of art to show realistic scenes in an enhanced way so that, for example, we are quite conscious of the nature of the prisoner's surroundings - the walls, the bloody sheets, etc whereas in a photograph it would just register as a jail cell.

I can't ID a link for this artist but a search of gay art groups should turn up more examples. I welcome link info from readers of this blog

For other articles in this series click on the A-Z label below.

Leather Sex Appeal - 32

An impressive array of leather gear, all well fitting but cumulatively it's overpowering. However, this man has an interesting 'lived in' face which is why he graces my blog today . One of the interesting facets of the leather scene is it's universal appeal to all ages.

This posting rounds off my leather series. The story which prompted me to start it - The Path of Pain' continues at 'mitchmen' but it has taken a new direction into the world of rugby and I will be picking up this theme soon, but first another installment of my A-Z of Fetish Artists - The Letter 'L'

Leather Sex Appeal - 31

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