Gorgeous Asian model Kim Tien has published his first photo book, jam-packed with nearly 180 of the best pictures from more than 30 photo shoots spanning over 7 years of his modeling career. Regardless if you are into swimwear, underwear, implied nudes or full-frontals ranging from the artistic to erotic, there are plenty of shots that will excite and tantalise.
Ben Kimura (January 1947 – February 18, 2003) was the “face” of Japanese gay magazines (Tagame’s encomium) from the early 1970s through 2002. He provided the covers and story illustrations for virtually all the issues of Barazoku and Sabu magazines during that time. Kimura’ style is unique among contemporary Japanese homoerotic artists. The bodies are idealized yet alluringly masculine. The faces are boyish yet with realistic expressions; petulant, moody, brooding, soulful, or pouty yet always sensuous.
Lin Jinfu (林金福) is a Chinese artist, born in Fujian Province in 1978. In 1999, he graduated from the sculpture department of Fujian Craftwork Art School (now is Art Academy of Fuzhou University). In 2006, he graduated from the oil painting department of Art Academy in Qinghua University and has been a professional painter since then. More paintings after the jump!
Bara (薔薇, “rose”), also known as the wasei-eigo construction “Men’s Love” (メンズラブ menzu rabu) or ML, is a Japanese jargon term for a genre of art and fictional media that focuses on male same-sex love and desire, usually created by and for gay men. The bara genre began in the 1960s with fetish magazines featuring gay art and content. Besides bara manga, also called gei comi (ゲイ コミ, “gay comics”), and illustration, a number of bara erotic games exist, as well as novels and memoirs. Bara is mostly a Japanese phenomenon, with limited western exposure through manga scanlations and online homoerotic art communities. While bara faces difficulties finding western publishers, it has been described as “the next big porn wave coming out of Japan.”
Bara can vary in visual style and plot, but typically features masculine men with varying degrees of muscle, body fat, and body hair, akin to beefcakes, or bears (熊, kuma) in gay culture. While bara usually features adult content (sometimes violent or exploitative) and gay romanticism, it often has more realistic or autobiographical themes, as it acknowledges the taboo nature of homosexuality in Japan.
Western commentators sometimes refer to bara as “yaoi”, but yaoi is largely created by and for women and features idealized bishōnen who frequently conform to the heteronormative formula of the dominant and masculine seme and effeminate uke characters. By contrast, bara is considered a subgenre of seijin (men’s erotica) for gay males and resembles comics for men (seinen) rather than comics for female readers (shōjo/josei).
