Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Mishima

Mishima - Kneeling

Japan is seen as the spiritual home of artistic, rope bondage and Mishima is one of the most significant artists in this genre. Virtually all of his fetish pictures are simple studies of Japanese men in bondage, usually nude and drawn without backgrounds. These (apparently) simple and elegant drawings are very much in his national tradition.

Mishima - Tied to a Post
Mishima's men and the culture he depicts are also unmistakeably Japanese. In this picture the young man's face has a distinctive, puppy fat appearance quite different to Hasegawa's more Western-looking boys (for example). The traditional loincloth trails down alluringly and is only held in place by the ropes which dive between his legs emphasising the bulge. The line of the head, body and legs follow a beautiful arc. His men are generally adorned with naturalistic body hair on legs and arms as well as the chests (sometimes it is shown in a naively curly way).

Mishima - Suspended

Like many Japanese artists (e.g. Hasegawa), he is interested in bodies that are covered with extensive and dense tattoos. Tattoos in Japan have various associations with criminality, class, bravery and wealth which on the face of it is not dissimilar to the UK but I wouldn't presume to judge what aspect Mishima and Hasegawa are portraying in their pictures. The emphasis given to the tattoo can confuse the eye and obscure the detail of the body and even gives a clothed appearance sometimes, but it's clearly an artistic choice not a misjudgement which is fair enough.

The anatomical detail is often impeccable, like the feet in this picture. 

There is often an air of real, but unseen menace in the pictures, sometimes manifested as staves prodding the captives body, bruises or even blood trickling from the mouth or wounds. When he shows men who are not tied they are often striking fighting poses or wielding knives, swords or staves with fierce expressions on their faces. In many pictures the captives sport impressive (but feasible) erections and may be tethered (and tormented) by chains attached to them. 

Mishima - Affection

Having said that, there are also some delightfully affectionate images too, all the more erotic for the hardness of the companion works. You can see that he used a traditional brush technique for this picture.

Mishima's bondage studies are less startling these days, when bondage imagery is commonplace, but even so you'd have to search hard to find the poses selected here. His straightforward elegant style is very attractive to the eye and the preference for solo, near naked studies renders them both artistic and timeless. For that reason he often pops up on gay art and fetish sites. 
~

Theres a selection of his work at Ayhan's blog, sadly Jeunes Asian Art has gone.

To see earlier posts in this series click A-Z in the label list below

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Minoru

Minoru - Bear in a Web

Just an honourable mention for Minoro who does rather nice pictures of bears and chubbies in leathery situations but mostly with no hard fetish content. This example is an exception. The quality of the artwork speaks for itself.

See more at Art by minoru

To see earlier posts in this series click A-Z in the label list below

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Mike

Mike - 'Dave Trussed'

-->

Mike who? I have at least 5 artists who go by this name including the well known, present day cartoonist and magazine illustrator who produces remarkably erotic pictures, but not fetish ones.

 .

The 'Mike' represented here produces drawings which are notable for the realistic proportions of the men's anatomy - including the sex organs. The detailing appears to be sketchy but is appropriate for the natural physique of the young subjects. I have darkened this picture slightly to bring out the subtle shading. His view of bodies as sexual objects seems to veer towards slenderness and plasticity rather than bulk and voluptuous curves. The facial detail is often slightly odd and combined with the smoothness of skin suggested by the delicate shading creates a strange ghostly appearance. The solid black background merely serves to accentuate this.

.

The pictures I have seen are understated but explore a wide range of fetish topics like bondage, waxing, gags and whips etc. This example is the most interesting and is not only well drawn (check out the fingers) but brings out the anxiety of the subject in a rather striking way.

I don't have any link info for this artist.

To see earlier posts in this series click A-Z in the label list below

A-Z Update - Les and Micro

I have added two links to the articles on Les and Micro, they take you to articles by FRGLee on his blog which give a bit of biography and extra pictures by these artists. Well worth a read.

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Micro

Micro - The Suit

Micro is one of those artists whose fetish fame is maintained essentially by one picture which circulates endlessly on the internet. The long blond hair of the novice is the best guide to it's age (other pictures by him feature greasy haired rockers and Tom-like cops in billowing trousers).

The interest resides mainly in the clothing (if that's the right word!) and the immersion chamber threat. It's not exactly explicit but the glimpse of naked buttock cleavage, the frontal bulge and the rear connection of the gas mask tube place us firmly in adult territory. There's something for everyone here from swimming trunks (a surprisingly rare sighting!) to full diving suits and I must not overlook the large boots (and feet) which convincingly straddle the gap between realism and absurdity. The composition is a little stilted but the leer of the handsome 'master' is excellent and the suits well drawn and detailed.

There's an article with more pictures at Frglee , this blog also features diving suits, rubber boots etc.

I don't have any other link info for this artist.

To see earlier posts in this series click A-Z in the label list below

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Mentaiko

Mentaiko - Captive

-->

I have admitted before, my own shortcomings when it comes to identifying Japanese cartoon artists. It doesn't help that their work often circulates unlabelled but I have never taken time to understand the subject better. However, their contribution to fetish art is so significant that I must mention them when I can.

Mentaiko's work has a pleasing, erotic plasticity in the crucial body areas, I love the shiny buttocks and bulging white loincloth of this captive although the rubbery texturing doesn't work quite so well on his ripped clothing. It's the bondage of course that makes this picture so sexy, the awkward and exposed position and the realistic, strong-looking ropes that snake round his contours. The creasing of the twisted white cloth as it passes between his buttocks is delightfully suggestive. The youth of the subject and, to a lesser extent the fantasy scenario is not really my cup of tea (though it's pretty uncontroversial in this case) but the erotic quality of the artwork is remarkable.

This type of art appears on GMBA (link at foot of sidebar) fairly regularly, but it's usually unattributed. There are plenty of Yaoi groups who specialise in this art and that is a good place to look for more information.

To see earlier posts in this series click A-Z in the label list below

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Mike Carcel

In retrospect, I wish I had filed Mike Carcel under 'C' but he always signs himself MCarcel so here he is jostling with all the other 'M's. Mike is a very prolific artist who often depicts fairly extreme and exotic subjects such as impalement, piercing, mutilation, hangings, crucifixion and even bloodier stuff which is much too extreme to show here at mitchmen.

MCarcel - Pony Boy Races

Early pictures show individuals in exotic and imaginative bondage and humiliation. The 'Pony Boy Races' is a simple but imaginative take on the Pony humiliation theme and hangs on to the masculinity of the characters in a way that compares favourably with Leo's well known Pony image (see earlier mitchmen A-Z post) which is much more elaborate and camp. The bowed heads and dribbling mouths are absolutely typical of Carcel's imagery.

MCarcel - Nailman Busy

His later works tend to show show groups of men carrying out and undergoing much more painful and gruesome S&M activities, and I use this description (rather than tortures) because the victims appear to be consenting or at least unprotesting of their fate - extreme as it might be. In 'Nailman Busy' the crucified man is excited enough to distract his torturer from his proper job, reversing their impalement roles. This rather subtle, black humour is another of Carcel's hallmarks.

His characters are usually good-looking men with realistic, attractive bodies and (as in Nailman) they are often shown pausing in their activity to gaze out of the picture, as though posing for a camera (which I imagine reflects the source inspiration but it's obvious that the artist has made a conscious choice to keep it that way). It creates an eerie sensation of having stumbled on some incomprehensible brutal ritual with the captors proudly posing next to their handiwork happily unaware of it's true horror. You can see in this picture how Carcel composes by assembling different images together and the individual viewpoints and perspectives are actually slightly different. It doesn't seem to detract from the impact of the finished picture.

MCarcel - Slave Pen

Mike's pen and ink sketches are well drawn with close attention to the details of anatomy. He uses cross hatching rather than solid greys to depict shadows and in his later pictures this is used quite sparingly. His technique shows fine body hair particularly well but the compositions are often crowded and the absence of depth shading and background perspective can cause visual confusion at first sight. A few moments study are needed to unravel the detail.

'Slave pen' has a similar montage style to 'Nailman' but the overall fan-like composition is fascinating. The tethering together of the two foreground prisoners has an almost religious artistry about it that gives the picture interest and weight, although pious acceptance and resignation on the part of victims is normal in Mike's world. Most of Carcel's pictures contain at least one little gem of bondage like these. This detached, almost academic treatment and the use of simple outlines may explain why his pictures often seem less shocking than they should.

MCarcel - Michal's Mistake

His men are invariably naked and as a result there is rarely much evidence of a scenario or personal motivations, just men ceremonially torturing and executing other men. The exceptions are those pictures which show Native American Indians torturing their captives. These pictures often include details of the Indian's camp as well as their garments. The introduction of this tangible, cultural detail and it's associations certainly add to the impact and this particular scenario gives full rein to Carcel's inventiveness and cruelty - adding arrows, fire, scalping and even flaying to his armoury.

Mike inks over and then erases pencilled originals to produce his final picture and you can see that some detail gets lost in this process - around eyes for example and the knees in 'Slave Pen'. The active participants in the pictures are often shedding copious amounts of body fluids from orifices and wounds which I suspect looks more subtle in the pencilled original than the inked final version. I prefer the earlier 'Pony Boys' style but truthfully the power of his imagery transcends technique.

~

Mike has produced hundreds of pictures over the years, and I wouldn't even attempt to work out a favourite or claim this to be a representative sample of his work. There should be some at the GMBA archives (link at foot of sidebar) and the MCR Yahoo Group (is, as of 2022, defunct)

However, there's another post of Mike's pictures on mitchmen blog here (added March 2013)

 

To see earlier posts in this mitchmen series click A-Z in the label list below