A-Z of Fetish Artists - Roscoe

My last major 'R' is another prominent commercial artist who produces a lot of work on the 'dads and sons' theme and this is reflected in my first example, a rather splendid spanking picture. The leather armchair is slightly oversized in this picture and this means it frames the whole composition very strongly, making a satisfying, balanced image. It also makes the 'father' look small in a Disney-esque sort of way, he can't even place his feet flat on the ground! Despite this, it's bulk seems to add gravity to the punishment rather than diminishing the man carrying it out. However, the older man's authoritarian credentials are compromised by the subtle, suggestive bulges in his underwear. This 'son' is less baby-faced than Roscoe usually draws but, typically, his portrayal combines characteristics of boyishness - over-size eyes and touselled hair - with signals of sexual allure - fleshy lips and luxuriant eye brows. He looks out to us, confused and appealing. I am a big fan of Roscoe's neat drawing style, the boy's lithe body shape and pert buns portrayed with silky skin tones are highly sensual.

Roscoe is normally not so much a fetish artist as a portrayer of sexual romps for mainstream magazines. That jolly style infuses this urinal humiliation scene but the racial element in this picture gives it quite a serious political edge for it's time (2003). Of course the 'victim' in these matters is not supposed to look as if he's enjoying it but just to add to the ambiguity, Roscoe leaves the victim's pants on with no clues to his state of arousal. You sense that he likes to challenge taboos! On a purely erotic level, however, this hosing down of a captive's body is an intensely sexual idea and it's a subject where a drawing (with the benefit of exaggeration) can accomplish more than a photograph. The portrayal of liquids in any form, whether as sea, rain, body fluids, wetness etc, is a great challenge for the artist - whatever the medium. You can judge Roscoe's success for yourself.

'Tongue Bath' is in a more conventional, realistic style and despite the threatening boot in the groin it is free from any controversial overtones. It's a nice picture, but if anything it's a rather tame exposition of the subject matter suggested by the title. If you're giving (or receiving) a tongue bath, the knee must be one of the least interesting areas of the body to explore (both as a picture and in practice!) It's not a fetish that gets much exposure, apart from the foot variant (I'm disregarding licking of the sexual organs and usual erotic centres which hardly count as bathing)! Licking of the rest of the body and face can be intensely intimate, if you don't believe me get someone to lick your closed eye lids. If it makes you squirm, that makes you a prime candidate for getting it in my book! That's an illustration of the strange 'power' relationships in this fetish, the licker can be serving his partner, pleasuring him, in one part of the body but testing him in another with strange and unusual intimacies. What's more he leaves his spittle behind to mark his territory, which the recipient can feel as it dries on his skin. So just who is in control here?

 Roscoe - Innocent

A super image of a forceful sexual 'encounter' with a 'licking' ingredient as a bonus. I love the bondage element and the captive's helpless, up-ended, open legged position. His captor's half-hidden leg is braced on the marble platform, suggesting a controlled and prolonged pumping is in prospect while he savours his victim's foot as a side dish. The modern tattoos and piercings don't fit into this pseudo-historical setting (where presumably anything goes) but they do serve to establish a gulf in experience between the two men. This is underlined by the look of terror on the captive's face. Since he is fully aroused, we can suppose that this cringing reflects a miscalculation of his partner's size or enthusiasm rather than a lack of consent. But it hardly needs amplifying by giving him a youthful face as well, which only serves to draw us into muddier waters where consent is invalid - in any era.