Jun 16, 2007
The art of NoBeast
It’s not every day you get to post graphic demon porn but this is such a day so consider yourself duly warned about the content. I’ve no idea who NoBeast is since no one seems to know. Given what’s being depicted here—among other things, a rare gay take on the unique Japanese tentacle rape fetish—the anonymity might be understandable but the quality of the drawing is certainly good enough for the artist to reveal his or herself publicly. This may be the work of a moonlighting commercial artist unwilling to compromise their day job. Who knows?
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12 Comments, Comment or Ping
Nathalie
Strange fantasies, but indeed the drawings are really good.
Jun 16th, 2007
Wiley
Not too sure about the last one with the pencil, but I do really dig the rest of them, though I certainly don’t envy any of those boys in the pictures. Then again, I almost never envy anyone being victimized in pictures I like, I simply like seeing it happen. If Zorn ever brought Naked City back together, I would absolutely not be surprised if he used this artist’s work in his usually elaborate album art.
Jun 16th, 2007
John
These pictures have that dubious ambivalence you get in the Japanese work where most of the “victims” (if they are victims) seem like willing participants. I’d say these are willing, for the most part. Not sure about the first one, though.
I’d forgotten about Zorn using this kind of art. I think the original Naked City album must have been one of the first places I saw anything like this, that stuff was pretty unknown in the west before the web came along.
Jun 16th, 2007
Nathalie
Indeed, they are reminiscent of certain Japanese prints. I have one somewhere involving a girl with an octopus that is very similar to these. And either partner did not seem particularly thrilled by the action either, that I remember.
Jun 16th, 2007
John
The octopus sex thing is a very curious Japanese invention that’s been a round for a long time. In recent years it’s evolved into scenarios with demons or alien beings or whatever. And many younger artists are imitating the manga/anime style so there’s even more cross-pollination going on, as these pictures demonstrate. (This assumes that NoBeast isn’t Japanese, of course.)
Jun 16th, 2007
Wiley
Most of the of the really intense mangas on Naked City albums were done by Suehiro Maruo, who is one of the best as far as I am concerned, though I can’t read Japanese so I am undoubtedly missing out on a lot of them. I typed in a search of your artist and found nothing, where on earth did you run across this badass NoBeast?
Jun 16th, 2007
Martin Jones
I assume the seed (excuse the pun) of all this comes from Hokusai’s The Amorous Octopus? Then let us not forget the gentle eroticism of Harry Clarke’s homage Ophelia/Lobster - not a penetration in sight!
Jun 16th, 2007
John
Wiley: these were found by accident after I saw a picture on the blog of someone I know then followed a link in the comments.
Martin: yes, Hokusai seems to be the first with the tentacles and his picture is rather more explicit than anything you’d see in western art at that time outside porn. Funny that people look askance at pictures like that yet western painting is full of similar scenarios with all those variations on Leda and the Swan, Ganymede and the Eagle, Europa and the Bull, et al.
Jun 17th, 2007
Wiley
An octopus just scares most more than a swan I guess. I agree they do seem willing, I just see them assuming a submissive victim’s role in the intimacy, I’d say I see eye to eye on a few things Bataille wrote, not to mention the penetrating members are huge and abrasive looking.
Jun 18th, 2007
sebastiane
very interesting, where did you find them please? where i can find more of this artist, it seems nothing really available on web.thnks
Oct 25th, 2007
John
Hi Sebastiane. These were all from this page and I’ve just noticed that the individual picture links I’d made weren’t working so that’s now been corrected. Some of the other pictures on that page look like they’re by a different artist although given the scarcity of information it’s hard to say for certain. As I mention above, I’ve not come across any other NoBeast work elsewhere.
Oct 25th, 2007
sebastiane
thank you
Nov 1st, 2007
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