The Muscle Art of Stefan

I only have two posts at this blog reviewing body-builder photo-morphs - IFNB (2018) and 'Built By Tall Steve' (2017) but they are amongst the most popular articles here. Back in the mid 2000's the artist 'Stefan' was experimenting with similar ideas, putting beefy posers into richly erotic situations and clothing them in costumes that were skimpy to the point of downright rudeness. 

I love this image showing a mature and highly masculine-looking man squeezing himself into a sexy, near-transparent G-string on the beach and finding himself being observed by two younger muscle guys who are more conventionally dressed and watch him with serious, enigmatic faces. 

It's as though they are shocked and he himself is embarrassed by his desire to be an exhibitionist.   

Body builders are exhibitionists almost by definition and not necessarily modest in this day and age. 

Many flirt with the audience on stage wearing skimpy costumes made from exotic, glamorous materials.

Stefan's take on that imagines a smug-looking competitor showing-off the daunting girth of his love muscle as well, which matches the meaty bulk of the rest of his body. It seems as if there might be an equally impressive length dimension, but it's held back, compressed even, by the material of his G-string. Not quite enough to fully cover the root, however, leaving one to imagine a concertina-like expansion on release.

In this picture the overall bulk of the competitor's body is emphasised rather than his muscle detail.
Stefan re-imagines this chunky man in a backless thong with sexy side-strings which seem to cry out for a fan to creep in from the wings and give them a sharp tug to see what will spring out.

The garment gives extra exposure to the impressive gluteal development mentioned in the title.

It's front pouch looks tiny by comparison and is even cut away at the sides for added (revealing!) brevity.

It's rubbery look and bulbous, rounded shape give an impression of serious containment.

This man's garment is reduced further to condom-like proportions, with a serious risk of side-spillage.

That concern seems to be reflected in the beach hunk's face and inhibiting his outdoors work-out.
Dismayingly, his exercise excitement has lifted the pouch away from his body, giving a glimpse of an abdomen area which is normally hidden behind it. It's a very sexy moment.

Stefan - Come Closer

Despite the near-nakedness of body builder displays, they are normally safely separated from their admirers by a stage or a camera, set apart like the Gods of masculinity they hope they truly are.
The caption suggests the muscle man is drawing in the camera (which is the principal channel for the love affair with the fans) so that he might be admired in intimate close up. The skimpy, root-revealing Gee-string is clearly not excluded from that invite.

The image suggests an appealing desire to loved by the multitude of faceless followers, coupled with the equally attractive confidence to permit it and enjoy it. A slightly different take on the voyeuristic, adoring relationship between body-builders and their fans.
~
There is an alternative reading of this image, equally evocative to those of a 'mitchmen' turn of mind. You can imagine this exceptionally bulky, gym fanatic looking down at the tiny pouch, perhaps not quite realising just how inadequate it actually is, and exclaiming "do I really have to wear this thing?"

The camera man of course has a repertoire of persuasive arguments to quell any real rebellion.
Controlling a strong man for pervy pictures by manipulating his vanity is perhaps a more exciting challenge than getting models (who really need the money) to reveal more than they intended.

This man has a very nice body indeed, with beautiful proportions and competition-standard muscularity, mellowed by a modest layer of fattiness that sensualises the skin texture by concealing the veiny, gritty detail deemed essential by true BB enthusiasts. Set against this perfection, the prodigious bulk of his poorly-hidden cock is almost shocking, the elephant in the room you might say.

   Stefan's title here seems to suggest that these hunky chaps are deliberately being provocative when posing, as though their desire to be admired is not fully fulfilled by their success in developing their bodies. Simply by substituting minimalist posing outfits for the more conventional clothing he draws attention to a hidden vein of earthier needs. In this particular image Stefan cleverly dips the top line of the pouch just that little bit further to give the bearer generous credit for his good fortune in the reproductive department and a warning to would-be beneficiaries.

Stefan - Muscle 21

In this delicious image he even conjectures a desire to shock and intimidate the other competitors.
Challenging by example their courage to go the extra mile (or extra inches perhaps I should say).

He's also intimidating them with the possibility that the judges might be tempted to add that final, crowning part of the male body to their Competition marking sheets (a la IFNB). In which case they might be found wanting in comparison with the mighty beast flaunting himself in front of them.

Competitor 104 certainly looks as though that thought might be in his head.
Number 108 already looks a no-hoper in that department, and seems genuinely impressed,
perhaps he's thinking about accepting a different sort of challenge.
 

Stefan is adept a choosing evocative images to manipulate - not just ones showing a man with a great body, but ones that catch a sense of personality or here a reaction to a significant moment.

This hardy character has entered the gym dressed in a typical Stefan gee-string of fairly conventional design but made of a lycra-like material that leaves nothing to the imagination. At least it doesn't now after a few vigorous exercises have got the blood flowing and sweat pores open.

It's a garment that would create a stir in the average gym at the best of times, although you can see in the background that trunks are acceptable here. I suspect our hunk might have gone too far with this little number and has been approached by a member of staff or fellow user who is unhappy about it offending other users or leading to unacceptable soiling of the apparatus.

Thus we get the image of a mature man of intimidating proportions looking cowed like a schoolboy as he is being told off for wearing gear more appropriate for someone half his age. At any rate his face and the out-of-balance pose suggests he's being told something he doesn't like and is at that delicate moment when he has to decide whether to accept gracefully and retire in humiliation or erupt in a bullying, steroid fit of anger.

Of course the explanation may be more prosaic. The next user asking him to get a move on or an admirer asking how he gets that lower body definition, or a lurker asking if he can buy his pants.

This is a slightly softer variation of the themes we have seen above. The body-builder seems to be preparing to remove his pouch for the photographer to record evidence of his amazing dimensions. His look of concentration and fumbling is sweet, he's human underneath all the muscle tissue.

The photographer is already poised for his shot as though wary that the moment of exposure may be too fleeting. After all, the beach is deserted at the moment, but this modest chap might be spooked if any dirty old men or jealous body-builders notice what's going on and close in for a better look.

Stefan's flair for putting real naked men into interesting and sexy fantasy situations finds a rather more artistic expression in this image combining a beefcake pose from the sixties with iconography relating to the great scientific adventures of that era. I'm pretty sure that body and sexy posing pouch (which has not been unaltered) belongs to the great Vic Siepke. The face does not however and it's possible it belongs to a real Russian astronaut. They briefly enjoyed the status of global, heroic pin-up celebrity in that era, although it's hard to believe such a thing could ever have happened now.

Deconstruction of uniforms and working gear usually yields sexy results and I have a weakness for sexy astronauts and their discipline myself. It's no surprise to see Stefan pairing astronaut kit with one of the briefest, legal Gee-strings ever seen. However in doing so he's making a quite profound connection between being gay (in an era of oppression) and having - and achieving- the highest human aspirations. It's not clear whether he's elaborating on that and encouraging young gay aspirants or cocking a snoop at the whole idea by putting a toy rocket into the  cosmonaut's hand.

You get a glimpse in this image of Stefan's wider abilities in artistry, design and style and I will explore this further in another article soon.

 This image doesn't have Stefan's signature and it's more grainy than his usual style, but it's a neat postscript, drawing on the same themes, arguably more emphatically. This body-builder seems to be hot with embarrassment and almost on the verge of tears as he struts his stuff in incredibly revealing posing briefs before an enthusiastic audience of men and women. The artist has tweaked his facial features to create a slightly awkward, geeky effect although the models chin, lips and nose are actually very sensually shaped. This has the side benefit of obscuring the identity of the original model, which is probably for the best.

I'm not sure if this is a morph at all, the model's endowment seems too modest for that
(although miniaturising is a sexy joke an artist might play on a muscle head).

His smooth, shaved abdomen accentuates the diminution, but real or not I find it sexy.

The slightly out-of- focus effect suggests some age for this photo 

but I can't find any trace of the model under the name given in the image details.

Stefan is still active on Deviant Art but seems to have left this type of art behind