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| Animas Animus - Captain America & The Punisher |
AnimusAnimus has a simple recipe for his art - men with exceeding large asses being dominated by their muscular peers and this is an excellent example. This spanking image is full of energy and lust.
But if his themes are simple his art isn't, despite appearances in this cartoon. The contrasting characterisations of the super-clean Captain America and the super-butch Punisher mine a very rich seam of rebellious non-conformity in the male breast. Dressing the punisher in jeans invites us to identify with him. His lovingly detailed boots and stubbled chin stress an earthy masculinity that seems to elude the goody-goodies of this life.
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| AnimasAnimus & Shadowwow - Set Me Free |
This image seems to explore the other side of the coin, the devilry and beastliness that lurks within the non-conformist and the ability those characteristics have to tempt ordinary mortals. I'm not sure why the artists have chosen a crab to represent such secret longings, unless there's magic involved.
I love the setting of a desert island beach. It's almost as this hulk has been deposited in Ehrlik territory where I imagine he would give the native Amazons a run for their money in the man-collecting stakes. If your fate as a wrong-doer is to be isolated from the rest of the world in an inescapable prison this place beats the deep burial option by a country mile.
I normally steer clear of mixed-species creatures like this but I like this one's fleshy physique and it is just the face that's morphed, no paws or tails. The grotesque facial characterisation complete with pirate patch is nicely conceived, but still the image would work better for me if he had a more human face - more like the Punisher above, say.
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| AnimasAnimus - Easter Egg Wrap |
The artist gives full rein to his perverse imagination in this delightful image, adapting the ancient fetish practice of oriental balls to a more prosaic, but not entirely hygienic purpose although I don't suppose that consideration would deter all my readers. It's utter fantasy of course, where does the wrapping come from? How do you stop the chocolate melting? But it's good to see that the captive worker slaving away seems to be enjoying his job so much. (Yes I know he's got a tail but it's only a little one!).
The concept of a hole-in-the-wall incarceration, display and dispensing service, usually targeting super-heroes, appeals to the erotic imagination and has spawned a lot of variations over the years.
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| AnimasAnimus - Muscle Lovers (my title) |
This fantasy (100% human!) wittily goes to the root of the matter (as it were) with an unbelievably over-developed, young muscleman apparently having sex with his own reflection and filming it on his phone so his fans can admire and envy him. AA's admiration of these types is obvious even when he's poking fun at their human weakness.
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| AnimasAnimus - Venom's Playthings |
This image reminds me of a scenario that had a brief vogue a few years ago when the Chris Redfield biohazard craze was at it's height. A Security Guard patrolling outside a bio-plant found himself assailed by tentacles emerging from the earth, totally absorbed by the mutant being and converted into a something resembling a sort of perpetual sex machine. He did not lose his bodily integrity as a human but his sexual parts became predominant at the expense of motor and communication functions. His new whole became a solid bio-mass that looked like a throbbing machine when his colleagues found him. Something like the image just above. It's an idea I'd like to have illustrated myself but I think it calls for the wizardry of computer art.
If you are intrigued by the art of Animas-Animus it's probably a good idea to understand what the term means. Without going into the psychological theory of Jung, the animus is the unconscious masculine side of a woman, and the anima is the unconscious feminine side of a man*. I think this artist is probably interpreting this idea in a general way about roles and role reversal but embraces animal characteristics as well to an extent that I have barely touched on in this article.
*You can delve the theory deeper at Anima and Animus but it's not an easy read!