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| Madeira DeSouza - Combat Culture |
This opening image is a fair representative of Madiera's art. The subject matter shows a helpless, powerfully-built captive facing an extreme threat laced with powerful erotic flavouring. The technique is based on relatively basic rendering with characters that occupy the middle ground between caricature and total realism set against basic backgrounds with minimal accessories that suggest just enough to stoke the imagination.
There's an artist's eye at work in the choice of an upward-looking viewpoint (out of all the options available to a renderer) and realistic details like the twiddling toes, anguished expression and nicely modelled cock reflect an emotional and erotic involvement with the subject that draws us in too. Fetish fans are amply catered for with a restraint arrangement that makes the captive feel uncomfortable, exposed and vulnerable. The forced straddle of the post is subtly erotic.
The title leaves us wondering if this dramatic basement encounter is a brutal, wartime interrogation or perhaps an extreme test for joining a military elite. The shadow of the gun on the left suggests more complex motivations may be involved.
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| Madeira DeSouza - Four in One (as always, click to enlarge) |
This portrayal of a handsome captive seduced and submitting is one of my favourite images by this artist. It's story-telling progression is another facet of his art although this is the only example I know of where it's condensed into one image. It's an imaginative use of the ability to produce image variants.
The subject in the first frame looks like a model posing on a bar stool for an arty photographer. He seems to be something of a jock - muscled, good looking but apparently capable of introspection and sensitivity. Although his hands are placed behind his back there's no evidence that he's restrained.
Then a bulky muscular man moves in on him, grabbing his balls. The model's face registers alarm and he recoils, but suddenly his feet are trapped in the foot rest of the stool and it's clear now that his arms are tied behind him.
The third frame is perhaps the best of all, he is reluctantly drawn into an embrace and faces his seducer with a priceless and rather boyish "must I?" expression on his face. This encapsulates the moment of capitulation better than any other image I can think of. The predator's bulk seems be overwhelming him here and the model's fear is evident, it scarcely needs the elaboration of an involuntary, watery spurt. At the same time you sense he's not really trying to escape!
In the final frame his body is reduced to a sweaty, shiny hunkiness as he succumbs to his own animal instincts. His muscularity blooms in the final frames, ironically it gives him no protection, but it does makes his submission rather compelling.
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| Madeira DeSouza - Accosting a Blond (my title) |
There's an element of intimidation in this encounter too. It's a conceptualised version of the eternal male fantasy in which showing someone you like then by touching them intimately magically produces reciprocal feelings. Women complain about men doing this all the time, but in the gay world it rarely causes offence and often works if you've got the courage to try it and an agreeable personality. Thus although the blond above is surprised by the sudden grope, he's excited by the unexpected interest too.
In this idealised homo-erotic fantasy, it's almost as if these two men have just bumped into each other on the street. The object of desire has been magically stripped of his natural reserve and his clothes and transported to an out-of-world 'zone' where his sexual feelings may be freely shared with the stranger who approached him. Their shadows suggest there's an element of romance at the back of all this spontaneous lustfulness.
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| Madeira DeSouza - Dance 1 |
Fighting and violent encounters are a recurring feature of this artists work and the victim is commonly outnumbered by his attackers creating an instant 'hero in trouble' pathos which is amplified here by his anguished expression. The dramatic, attacker's lunge and the victim's recoil, with a falling domino effect as he collapses into the second assailant makes for a satisfying composition. DeSouza has accomplished a degree of interaction and believable 'proximity' between the superimposed figures that isn't easy here. Notice that he's opted for the victim to squeeze his knees together as a realistic, defensive response to the attacker's jab rather than leaving him open legged and thus astride the attacker's knee which would convert it to a more erotic grip.
Cowboys and their brutal, all-male lives feature regularly in Madeira's work. Clothing is crucial to their identity of course but is often a tricky area for renderers (even accomplished ones), Madeira's approach is sometimes tokenistic but those shown here are pretty convincing. We are not told the reason for this attack. The title of the piece is ironic of course but it does give a clue to the outcome if you want to seek out the other pictures in the series.
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| Madeira DeSouza - Street Corner Captive |
Madeira often features fearsome looking toughs in his images and this one has made a captive of an most attractively muscled man, singling out his balls for attention. It's not clear if his motivation is benign or malign.
His captive is no wimp, he might have just come out of a gym training session, and his toned, shaved body suggests he has great awareness of himself as a man. Despite that he's being totally dominated, forced into naked display and bondage - including a ball-tie that arouses him and attracts attention. His captor seems to be pointing that out, casually twisting his head to one side in rebuke. The humiliation is underlined by the semi-public setting - just open enough to feel exposing and allow others to watch, but just private enough to avoid unwanted interruption. It's clear his ordeal is only just beginning and lengthening shadows signal approaching darkness.
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| Madeira DeSouza - Seven Against One (Best of Beck 6) |
Falling into the hands of a whole gang of muscular, randy toughs might be your idea of heaven and the rendering of this image is reminiscent of those images of public baths where the rules allow males to freely frolic without scaring their fellow citizens. This might be a novice being introduced to the muscle-sex club by a man who's pretty enough and big enough to fill the romantic dreams of many.
In Madeira's hands, however, this is always more likely to be the setting for a nightmare and that is the case here. Beck (a cop with a weakness for sexual blackmail) has been abducted and brought to this spacious basement for some settling of multiple scores, which will demand more from him than mere sexual gratification. Thus the hands behind back pose does not indicate a 'come and get me' openness but hands-tied captivity, a state made hopeless by the numbers of his captors.
This is the most refined of the images we have seen so far* with nice rendering of the participants and setting and clever shadowing creating depth and focusing attention on the central encounter. Exaggerated musculature in cops is not an unknown phenomenon but it doesn't quite accord with our normal perceptions of gangsters. Nevertheless the foreground figures in particular are a feast for the eyes of muscle fans.
*I included another Madeira image, similar in quality and subject to this one, but featuring convict intimidation in the mitchmen collection of jail art entitled "You're Going Down!".
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| Madeira DeSouza - Sex Slaves on Display |
These are a diverse group of fit men, but it doesn't look as if they are destined for an Amalaric-style slave auction (at least, not yet), since their captors have stripped off too. That suggests an intimate engagement with their captives is imminent and either they don't want their clothes to get in the way or else they don't want them spoiled by any mess that might happen. DeSouza's title gives a hint that it may not be wrestling on the agenda. It seems like a ray of light has picked out the first volunteer who gazes at us blankly as though not understanding and appealing to us for sympathy. The captor giving him a reassuring (or possessive) hug looks nice (but probably isn't)
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| Madeira DeSouza - Public Shower Milking |
It's unlikely that those novice slaves would imagine that bizarre torments like this might be in store for them. A public milking (whilst restrained) might feel degrading for some, but it's not the end of the world. However, the sprinkling shower (somewhat inexplicably) raises the ante on this humiliation.
In popular culture, wetting another man with water is a provocation, sometimes a demonstration of contempt and akin to a physical blow. Here it's a demonstration of power over a captive that's humiliating for him, like an uninvited stranger invading the private space of his shower. It's temperature, hot or cold, may be a further discomforting factor for him but bear in mind it's one the milker here has to share. The wetting of his skin produces a shininess that is visually sensual and draws in the spectators, turning him and his sexual humiliation into a fairground, freak show.
If you look closely there are clues that Madeira may originally have had a more extreme scene in mind, since the victim's feet don't seem to be touching the ground.
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| Madeira DeSouza - Torturing The Prisoner |
This image shows a man undergoing a more determined milking while seemingly strapped down on a block of some sort in a clinically white setting. Even his restraining straps are white and just the faintest trace of shadow tells us it really is a setting, not just a blank background! It seems to indicate that his captors are sophisticated and his semen is sought for a specific purpose and not being extracted simply as a gesture of dominance or lust.
His muscular build and facial hair may give a clue as to why. They testify to a well-matured masculinity. Presumably he had extensive body hair originally, but it's been shaved off for clinical reasons. Now he is no longer a strong, independent man, but just a laboratory specimen, unable to prevent their experimentations on him nor their explorations of his body and it's workings.
The glaring white setting seems to epitomise his isolation from the real world. So does the clever use of an aerial viewpoint which creates a topsy turvy scene, nicely illustrating his disorientation and loss of control. This scene doesn't match normal notions of torture but shows a torment of a very subtle kind.
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| Madeira deSouza - The Captive 10 (Drained) |
This picture has a white background too and it's possibly related to the previous one, the captive has a similar appearance and is in a similar plight, but there's no sense of clinical purpose here, just lustfulness, which is probably easier for him to understand but leads to much the same 'Why me?' dead end. This suspension is a much cruder method of disorientation and more physically demanding for the captive, but it's a spectacular demonstration of control, augmented with the possibility of pain if excessively prolonged, so don't try this at home!
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| Madeira DeSouza - Abstract reclining device (for milking) |
The milking of these two buddies employs a more technical and artistic restraint in the form of an elegant, shaped recliner which they sit astride. Comfortable perhaps apart from the plug on which they are impaled, which helps to steady and stimulate them during an energetic extraction procedure. There's always something special about buddies sharing exotic experiences! Notice the interesting contrast between their faces here, one shocked, the other seeming to be well into the zone of sensual pleasure.
The technical sophistication here suggests a highly professional operation with a significant sense of purpose, similar to the clinical scene above, but here dark shadows suggests a more secretive, more dubious intent. You may recognise a similarity with the image I used for the mitchmen post, Milking Factory 10.
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| Madeira DeSouza - Barn Hang |
Perhaps there's a limit to sharing experiences. These two are clearly not just buddies but beautiful lovers and perhaps that is why they are imprisoned in this frightening place. This image hints at the darker side to this artist's work which I will explore in Part 2 at mitchmen blog.