The Art Of Gengoroh Tagame book cover.
Image by Gengoroh Tagame
I have often heard the advice given “do what you love, love what you do” given to others unsure of where to go in their lives or what course to pursue in a career. I suppose the underlying message meant to be conveyed is that what you love doing you will do well and it won’t seem like work. This is exactly what Gengoroh Tagame, the next artist in our gay cartoon artist profiles is doing in his life. He could very well be the poster child for doing what he loves and being very good at it. And to him, it’s not work, it’s a way of life.
From the time he was a boy his whole life seems to have been channeled toward the time that he would become famously known as one of the best gay erotic manga artists in the world. As far back as he can remember he was influenced by art that involved male submissiveness, humiliation, torture, or bound in slavery. As a boy he read comics by Osamu Tezuka (considered by many to be the “Godfather of Anime”) and paid special attention to any scenes involving pain or torture. He loved movies that involved men in bondage such as the fate of Charlton Heston as a slave in “The Ten Commandments”, “Ben Hur”, and “Planet of the Apes”. As a teenager his interest in Sadomasochistic sex began to really blossom and he found inspiration in books dealing with torture and pain around the world, and started reading the gay Japanese magazine “Sabu” and “120 Days Of Sodom”, a story of wealthy men seeking the ultimate sexual satisfaction in orgies, by French writer Marquis de Sade. As a young man, Tagame’s interests in male bondage, discipline, and even torture became the driving force and source of inspiration for the art he would become best known for.
Image by Gengoroh Tagame
Although like many artists Tagame was drawing art early in life, but it was 1982, while a student at Tama art University, that he claims is the starting point of his career as a mangaka. His first published works were not under the name Gengoroh Tagame, that name would not become his nom de plume until 1986 as the art director for a Japanese company. In 1992 he started accepting freelance work as an illustrator, art director and graphic designer and this work led to his finally leaving the corporate world to pursue his own art as a full time occupation. From his resume and the list of places his works have been published, Tagame has been a very busy artist. He has had several shows in Japan, France and Spain, been published in many books including G-Men, Sabu, SM-Z, Kinniku-Otoko, SoMe Bizzarre, Badi, and many other publications as well as having published a few art books of his own. One of the most interesting part of Tagame’s work is that it continually evolves. As a lifelong student of gay japanese erotic art and the history of gay sex, Tagame is continually learning, and exploring new areas of Sadomasochistic sex and portraying that with his art.
A man of many sexual fantasies, castration, cannibalism, toilet fantasies are his favorite, but when asked what really turns him on, Tagame says “torture is the best pornography”, “dog collars are best for slaves” and “a man used as a beast of burden is a turnon”. He personally loves bondage, chains ropes, straps, almost any gear used in bondage, and prefers using the tradional Japanese style tenugui as a gag and these implements are seen recurring throughout many of his art pieces. His best known works mainly focuses on bearish, bara type men and mainly in gay BDSM and / or violent sexually charged settings. Warning!! Some of his art is very very explicit and is definately not for the weak hearted. He likes to explore the domination of manly powerful men, stripping them of their masculinity through humiliation and pain yet allowing them to retain a sense of their strength and manliness by featuring their cocks, strong and proud, refusing to be subdued. He likes to take me to the edge of despair and bring them back again through the pleasures of painful sex. In one particular show in France he featured a series of his drawings of a fallen Samurai fighter who was bound, abused and turned into a sex slave, yet through it all, the once mighty, proud fighter found a way to rebel against his bondage, displaying his masculinity through his raging cock. Looking at many of Tagame’s works you can sense the pain the men he portrays are feeling at that specific moment in time, and you can almost sense the journy they had to go through to get to that moment, but you can also see that many have found a way, much like the fallen Samurai, to transcend the pain and channel that pain into sexual pleasure.
Image by Gengoroh Tagame
As specific as Tagame is about what turns him on sexually, he is equally specific about the other artists in the world who’s work he admires, and that inspire him. He likes Cavelo for the torture he portrays, Etienne for his imagination, Funayama Sanshi for his brutality, George Fuwa a.k.a. Hisatomo for his use of sweat and sperm, The Hun for the raw power he portrays, Les for his mastery of imagery, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi for the detail in his wood block printings, and of course, Tom of Finland who seems to be a source of inspiration to many bara artists around the world.
Image by Gengoroh Tagame
Visiting Gengoroh Tagame’s website is in itself a virtual journey through the world of gay sadomasochistic sex. You can see the influences these other artists have had on him and see how they are all masterfully blended to create very intimate, very stark portrayals of men, subdued, bound, and in pain, but seeminly having reached the point where they have crossed over the pain threshold and have begun to enjoy the current sexual journey Tagame has taken them on. In his website you will find many galleries of his work, sorted by specific genre of gay fetish sex and includes, a pinup gallery, S&M sex, Bondage sex, general fetishes, wet and dirty sex, character studies (Dessin), character development sketches and a section called Heavy and Deep, and it is! Be warned, the Heavy and Deep section of his site is NOT for everyone and contains images of violent and very painful gay sex. One of my favorite sections of Tagame’s website is the History of Japanese Gay Erotic art section where he displays at least one pinup of twelve different artists that inspire him as well as a brief history and information about each artist. You can also follow Gengoroh Tagame on facebook, twitter, or keep up with what he is currently working on in his blog. Many of his works can be purchased in his online shop, but please be aware that they are only in either Japanese or French and there are no English translations of his work available at this time.
I’d say this definately was a man that follows the maxim ”do what you love and love what you do”, and it certainly shows in his art!
February 3rd, 2012 at 4:40 am
[...] Gengoroh Tagame, one of the undisputed masters of bara art turns 48 today! This year of the dragon, 2012, also marks Gengoroh Tagame’s 30th year as a manga artist! What a milestone! Happy Birthday and happy 30th anniversary as a manga artist from us here at SpunkToons.com. [...]