The Art of Homoeros - 5 whips etc

 A frightened young man is driven across a bleak wasteland under the lash of a whip, wielded by a determined-looking captor dressed in expensive clothing of a medieval style with a sinister, monk-like cowl. This striking image explores similar ground to Chirenon's 'A New Life for Our Air Force Boys', which I posted here a while ago, except that there's no bondage involved, just pure brute force while terrified fear has been substituted for the flyers' incomprehension about their fate. It's fantasy rather than historic with nipple rings suggesting a modern taste for erotic sensations, he's an escaped trainee recaptured perhaps. I've no idea what the title means, sometimes this artist puts information about his creative sources in the title.

This may be what lies in store for the first terrified captive, I warn you, blonds get a lot of stick in this universe! This is another image I admire for it's pure simplicity and understated menace, coupled with a rather nice portrayal of the 'blonde beach-boy' stereotype. His slender muscularity is just right for that role and you can imagine his favourite surfing shorts cast aside just out of sight, having been have been roughly removed by his captor. Pitched into this ominous situation, he pulls at his restraints anxiously. Perhaps he's regretting drawing attention to himself now, with all those self-indulgent beef-cake poses.



The same enclosure serves for Scott's punishment here. Homoeros invokes another historical fantasy with the whipper's gladiatorial skirt and chain flail, but there's much evidence of a modern crossover, like in the see through element of his garment, the victim's name and background detail.  It doesn't take much imagination to realise what terrible bone-crushing damage the weight of the flail could inflict on the human body if swung with any amount of force. Could a modern boy like Scott, who can be dominated without resorting to bondage restraint, withstand such ferocity or does the fantasy spare him from the reality?





Possibly, if this scene is anything to go by. This chastised slave, released from the whipping post staggers unsteadily to his feet while his handsome master stands majestically over him, appraising his own handiwork, job done. The whip used here seems quite a mild instrument in comparison to the antique flail, but they can also be heavy enough to pack a similar punch and this one's been beefed up with a metal ring near the tip which you can just see in this image in a rather suggestive place. The sense of domination here is terrific but Homoeros does not show us any gory devastating consequences, focussing instead on a brave, uncomplaining, 'pick yourself up' response from the manly victim. The great gay artist,Quaintance was also a great portrayer of antique slave whippings..





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Homoeros shows similar interest in the regulation of the confined environment of sailing ships. These had a code of conduct scarcely less demanding than the slave masters of ancient times. Severe punishments were meted out even for petty infractions and considered essential for the maintenance of discipline and good order. 

Normally such punishments were inflicted before the crew to encourage the rest of them to conform. In the British Navy offenders were stripped to the waist and tied to gratings removed from hold entrances and propped up at an angle. We can't see an audience here and it seems to be the punisher who is really getting the lesson.  He hesitates before commencing, scratching his head and seemingly perplexed. In the end his feelings do not prevent him from doing his duty, else he might suffer the same fate himself, but in this sensitive sailor, Homoeros unveils another attractive character, at first sight perfectly suited to his less than pleasant task but with enough of a foot in the modern age to have a conscience as well as a gym honed body, coiffured hair and sexy tight trousers.





That sense of a bond between punished and punisher takes a more intimate form in 'Alfred in Prison. The guard touches the helpless suspended victim him on the cheek as though comforting him or cherishing his fragile, beauty before unleashing the designated punishment on his person. He's literally adding insult to injury not just by indulging his sadistic interest in the victims suffering, but by shamelessy communicating it to the him, that he might know the humiliation of suffering for such a selfish entertainment. The restraint position here, suspending the victim by his arms, is demanding enough. The artist has captured the tension in his arms convincingly. Allowing his toes to just about touch the ground if he stretches, introduces another site of discomfort for him.



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If the last two pictures suggest a quasi-legal justification for the victim's punishment, this one certainly doesn't, referencing instead the laws and rough justice of the underworld. We've seen this 'Industrial Ruin' before and it's aura of an abandoned parking lot seems an apt setting to what appears to be a scene of gangland revenge, which activity often seems to end up involving building sites or building materials. The transgressor of the rules shown here is certainly no ruin himself, but his vest-clad nemesis has some suggestive qualities in that direction. However he too has an admirable physique under that vest and sports braces which tells you he's temporarily shed his normal, well-dressed appearance in order to do justice to this task, which he is doing with gusto enough to expose the 'squealer' in his victim.
Bring on the concrete mixer!

 





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Threat hangs over this scene too as an extraordinarily attractive captive pleads for mercy on his knees in a dank, dark dungeon with walls that will ensure no-one will hear him scream when punishment begins. Like the dramatic finale of an epic play, his young jailer seems to be reasoning with him, pointing out the regrettable inevitability of all this pain. Their bubble haircuts create a whiff of the mythical here, where 'cruel and unusual' punishments are often the norm. This one looks like being crudely down to earth unless that beauty can talk his way out of this,

 



There's an even more intimate communion here as the guard puts a finger on the prisoners lips, gently admonishing him to be silent or maybe reminding him of their kisses which now count for nothing next to the kiss of the whip that loves all men equally. This guard has stripped down to his loincloth to administer punishment, a practical choice but one that creates the illusion of near equality between these two men when there's clearly a more structured relationship here. Those beguiling blue eyes would test the mettle of any whip-man and there's something about his hang dog look that makes you want to put your arms around that slender waist.

 







This picture is entitled 'wip' for 'work in progress' and I know of no finished or companion pieces, but it already has a completeness that requires no elaboration. The prisoner is exceptionally attractive and slightly dizzy looking, but he stands upright at the stake, the orange sky burnishing his muscular body as the sun rises on what may be his last day. The guard seems to be offering him the choice of the flail, whose vicious qualities we have already discussed, or a quicker route to oblivion - the noose. Perhaps he is explaining that one will be the precursor to another. In earlier times it was the fate of particularly nasty criminals to be hung in chains and left for the birds to devour. The prisoner listens in amazement, as though he's hearing a different sentence to that handed down at his trial or just terminally naïve. With no appeal mechanisms left either.

 

Homoeros flirts with hanging as an ultimate punishment in a few other pictures, but this oblique reference is his most successful invocation of the threat of that demise.



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The threat of ultimate violence hangs over this picture too as another bound (and blond) victim is ushered across another amphitheatre at the point of a sword towards a specially paved area that is unaccountably littered with large stones. Do the empty steps offer an escape route or merely await the arrival of an audience for his uncertain fate? The guard seems to be watching him very closely with sword arm tensed as though preparing to strike at that inviting, unprotected back given half an excuse. But there's a sense too of him standing back, letting his prisoner go to whatever fate is in store.

Another nuanced illustration of victim and his oppressor.

 

Next time the Homoeros punishment trail reaches it's destination.

Read this series from Part 1