Woodunart - Killing You Softly (click to enlarge)
Woodunart is a relatively recent arrival on the scene and this image probably made the greatest impact on the fetish community. This aspect of his work is bondage-oriented with added torments. There's an undercurrent of danger and even brutality in some cases but it's not explicitly shown. The scenario is very like 'Inquisition' like, but is it just my fancy that there's a cross on the right hand wall?
WoodunArt - Intimacy
WoodunArt's images mostly feature big, mature men like these and the idea of highly muscular men being forcibly abducted in their jockstraps is very fertile ground for S&M fantasies. The pictures are confidently painted with a finesse that must have been years in the making but see how the composition here augments the subject, placing the victim in the middle of a noticeably larger, dark space which tells us that he is isolated from any help.
Woodunart - Something Warm
The source of the warmth is left to the viewers imagination. The depiction of the captives in many of these pictures suggest great strength but there's a hardness in the faces which seems to run deeper than the anger invoked by his their predicament. The tight cropped hair just adds to that sense of contolled aggression. It seems there are no 'goodies' in this universe.
Woodunart - Dinner Meat
This image reworks the idea of gangland abduction from 'Killing You Softly'. These two images standout because they have a dramatic sweep that is almost epic. Big though the captive may be, he is dwarfed by his surroundings. The unpleasantness in full flow in the first picture has yet to manifest itself in this scene but judging by the set of the captive's face and the smile of the henchman behind him it won't be long in coming.
Like 'Intimacy' above, there's a play on that sense of the unknown danger, which the captive faces naked and unprotected. His vulnerability is brought out by such devices as the clothed state of his captors and their weapons of course. Also by his own minimal, vestigial clothing, shaved crotch and the shibari-style bondage which has been designed to draw everyone's attention to that most treasured and vulnerable part of him, his manhood.
My explorations in researching these articles sometimes take me to the most unexpectedly pleasant places and Woodun Art's work is one such with studies of men like these (based on photos) which are not only attractive but succeed in capturing some singular essences of manhood.
This more youthful example is softer in execution and there's a sense of uncertainty in the facial expression which is very evocative of the mysteries of becoming a man.
Woodunart - Gemini
I can't explain the title of this final piece, but it's a classic 'predicament' scene where the danger is very apparent but has yet to be set in motion. Presumably the battery on the side bench wasn't up to the job. The menacing shadow in the foreground is a nice touch but the captive seems to be looking in a different direction for some reason. Like all the other victims, he's been shaved for the occasion.
This is probably quite a common S&M fantasy, with gothic origins. It's not dissimilar in intent to the (even more ancient) wedge punishment that I was featuring here a year or so ago (see wedge label below). It even featured in the James Bond 'Thunderball' movie in a slightly updated form with a laser beam substitued for the circular saw. This is one threat where the logical denoument is 'out of bounds' for all but the most determined sadist.
WOODun Art (as he styles himself) has a blog Woodunart on tumblr
with lots of masculine art, but it's slow and quite difficult to access individual images, patience is advised but will be amply rewarded.
All pictures in this article can be expanded by clicking on them.
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