'He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.'
C.S. Lewis
Many of you may remember Naked Ambition's George, and his masked mammals from two pieces last Halloween. One with a scary Halloween mask, (HERE:) and one with a fetching and svelte hippopotamus. (HERE:) The artist behind the camera models himself, (HERE:) and understands how the mask can not only tap into the animal instincts in some of his subjects, it can also provide a layer of camouflage and protection for models seeking not to get caught.
Unless it's for Halloween, I'm usually am not a huge fan of masks in imagery. I think especially, if the focus of the image is the nude male form. I like to view people in their entirety, and this desire has led to one of my goals with FH, which is that I strive to have the men that I feature viewed as full human beings, and not just a compilation of their body parts.
I also like to find out a little bit about about the models I feature, and most masked models, understandably, wish to keep their identity a mystery. For me, the male body is a work of art on it's own, but FH is also about story, and although masks don't preclude their being a story, it's often one more difficult to tell.
One of the main reasons is that so much of a person's personality is seen in their face, especially their eyes. So often when I'm featuring a model or image, a models smile or their facial expression can provoke the direction of the story. A model's eyes in particular, sometimes with a twinkle, sometimes showing reservation, or nerves, are also responsible for so many of the stories I've told.
Despite my usual reservations, I love Naked Ambition's masked images. Admittedly, in part I know it's due to the incredible bodies involved. More importantly though, Georges's images never lack either personality, or story. I in a large part of this is both the poses George captures, and the fact that the masks are of animals.
It is my personal theory, the the way in which many o us think about, and relate to animals as adults, is based on how we're introduced to them as children. So many people who say they 'hate' cats, or any other animal, can frequently connect to an early negative experience with the animal.
Growing up, like so many kids born in the 70's and 80's, most of first connections with animals come from Disney. Dumbo the Elephant, Simba in The Lion King, and the many dogs, cats and rodents, Micky included, who formed my love and admiration for animals. Disney also gives all of their animal characters human voices, human traits and most importantly human emotions.
Although I am keenly aware of how violent a hippo can be, when I see George's shots of Jeremiah the hippo in the shower, my mind flashes not to hippo's murdering clothes washing women along the river banks, it flashes to the tutu wearing Hyacinth from Fantasia.
I love that George keeps his menagerie moving, photographing his hippo's, lions and mice moving throughout the house, bathing, showering, reading, or just lounging around and soaking up the mid-afternoon sun. All the while of course, remaining the sensually sexicited animals that they instinctively are.
Below: One of George's unmasked, but still mysterious mammal models
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