Zamok is one of my favourite artists and he featured in one of the final entries of my A-Z of Fetish Artists back in 2017 (
A-Z of Fetish Artists - Zamok). I am proud to have been given these previously unpublished sketches by him and allowed to publish them for the very first time here at mitchmen blog.
These are large images so you can see more if you click on them.
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| Zamok - Sportsman in swimming trunks and football socks (1997) |
This study of a sportsman's lower body is earlier than Zamok's other known works
(which are dated between 2001-2013), but his characteristic style is instantly recognisable.
Even though this picture is not of a full figure it has a satisfying 'completeness'.
I would guess this is a soccer player (which seems his favourite subject). The swimming trunk briefs look an incongruous combination at first sight, giving the character a strange dual identity, but they are a typical footballer's undergarment in the modern era* and this player has simply taken his shorts off - to change, or maybe to wave them aloft in some act of bravado on the field.
That possibility alone gives the image an erotic frisson.
The pose of the figure suggests the sort of off-balance, mid-action posture you might fleetingly see on a soccer pitch when the game is in progress, so you might also imagine some benign force has caused this player's shorts to magically disappear during play, exposing his sexy undies - and I probably don't need to point out just how revealing they are! There's a group of early Zamok pictures which do in fact show
footballers stripped and tied up on the pitch.
It gives Zamok the opportunity to depict a sexy pair of legs with the well-developed thighs that are the trademark of a modern, professional footballer. Hair usually looks good on a muscular body and the depiction of it here is something of a tour-de-force creating a subtle sense of 'leg fuzz' that fanciers will delight in. This sort of detail can also be seen in Zamok's other pictures, see below.
This fragment is taken from
Zamok's 'Soccer' (2002) The fine detailing is only visible on a computer screen if you click on the picture to zoom in. It's easily missed because the highly erotic nature of the picture's subject matter is a massive distraction. Some of Tom of Finland's early pictures aspire to this effect but it's nowhere near as subtle.
*JOCKSTRAPS: The jockstraps of old are now used only by traditionalists and those who play in rougher sports. Modern soccer players are noted for their dedication to their appearance and fashion, so maybe that's why they prefer more stylish, less functional designs. Or, perhaps they're afraid of being vulnerable to candid photography on the pitch or shy of exposing their naked bottoms to team mates for fear of being targeted by gay innuendo. It's a remarkable fact that there isn't a single 'out' gay player amongst all the thousands of men who play in the top tiers of the English game, suggesting there's an institutional intolerance amongst their peers.
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| Zamok - Study of a Footballer on a Milking Machine (1995) |
This study is even earlier and shows that Zamok's 'Alternative Gym' ideas had been occupying him for some time before he shared the results with us.
Interestingly I can't find any other example in his published works of a 'machine' in which the occupant is seated, they tend to be standing upright or lying on their backs. They are also shown in profile usually, but you can see that the V-shaped leg restraint arms shown here (which can only be appreciated in a '3 dimensional' view) offer up tremendous erotic possibilities with the forcible opening of legs. If only he had explored this further! The thigh straps are a notably emphatic element of the design and the artist seems to have been pondering a 'back support' which would have enabled controlled, backwards arching of the torso.
This image also seems to be unique in that it includes a milking method using a cap or sleeve. If you look at my 'Milking Factory' series, those are by far the commonest fantasy for this procedure but
Zamok's previously published works use either sounding tubes or, occasionally, the hand of a 'Trainer' to promote extraction.
I commented in my A-Z article that coloured images by Zamok are unusual but there are three in this group. The footballer's socks show that he's used cross-hatching with coloured pencils (or possibly crayons) to give them texture, but the skin tones are finer and more subtle. The example just above exploits the grain of the paper to suggest hairiness.
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| Zamok - Twin Bondage |
Two gym users are strapped together back-to-back for this typical Zamok image, which is an echo of his well known goalmouth,
Soccer Double Punishment (also referenced above). If you expand the image by clicking, you can see that wrist and arm restraints were in the pipeline for these two men and their hand shapes suggest they were to be gripping the pull cables of exercising weights which is a common Zamok scenario. There's no hint of the artist's intentions regarding their sexual equipment.
Notice the clothing detail includes 'Z' brand socks.
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| Zamok - Body (athlete restrained) |
This is a marvellous sketch of a torso under stress. The subtle shading defines the subject's musculature without impairing the sense of cohesive bulk in the body. I'm not a big fan of prominent veins in body-builders, but the way in which they are shown to traverse the terrain of the leg here is quite remarkable.
Veins are not entirely devoid of eroticism either, but that ingredient is amply supplied anyway by the simple jock-style garment with it's slimmed down waistband. The hairy treasure trail disappearing inside it is a reliable, erotic device but the athlete's tackle dangling out through one leg hole will be a rare treat for some of my readers. Amongst all this sensuality the single, tight, leg binding of rope is easily missed but is sufficient to trigger imaginings of this hugely desirable, spreadeagled, athletic body being comprehensively immobilised.
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| Zamok - Drawing |
This sketch is simply titled 'Drawing' but shows a nude man, apparently restrained, with legs spread wide open and arms drawn back tightly behind his back. The head turned to the side suggests another person is present but unseen, in charge of the captive.
The figure detailing here is familiar but the characterisation of the face is quite unlike Zamok's usual middle-European look (for example, that shown in the 'Twin Bondage' image above). The generous head of blond hair confers more of an Anglo-Saxon or Scandinavian look.
It's an interesting experiment, but an isolated one it seems.
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| Zamok - Drawing 034 (man suspended from a trapeze) |
There's similar experimentation in this image with a curly-haired man this time.
He's tied to and suspended from a trapeze, clad only in swimming trunks.
There's a hook around his tackle which has come from between his legs
It seems to be causing some sort of discharge and his clawed hands suggest extreme tension.
A figure is visible behind him operating a lever or possibly manipulating the hook.
This is essentially a vehicle for another fine, figure study,
but the S&M element, hinted at in the preceding studies, is more explicit here
and it's quite unlike the subtle torments of the gym machines in his best known work.
More pointed, you might say.
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| Zamok - Batman (study) |
This is the most surprising of all these studies, who'd have thought that Zamok's earthy footballers would have a companion character drawn from the realms of Fantasy? (I must admit I too have drawn a single picture based on Batman and like Zamok here given him the power of flight!)
Batman looks unexpectedly slender when he's given Zamok's lean physique, perhaps that's a more appropriate reflection of his physical agility and his intimidating eyes here make up for his less intimidating bulk. Zamok gives him a generous, but neutral, bulge.
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These fascinating sketches, most of them of just as attractive as his previous known works tease us with what might have been. They give us insights into Zamok's technique but also into his thoughts about his subject matter. They make a marvellous footnote for his great male art.
