Celebrating Bishop 1
11-15-2015
I was 16 years old when I found Bishop on Bondage vol.2. I bought it right away (in a regular bookstore, by the way; those were the days!) I was already into drawing bondage at the time, just for my own pleasure. All the art in the field I had been exposed to up until then was the work of older artists like Jim, Stanton and Willie.
And although I still love their art very much even until this day, in my mind Bishop completely blew these guys away. I had never seen anything like this, and Bishop easily became the biggest influence on my own work instantly. I still think he was the greatest bondage artist ever, and in the coming months I will from time to time take the opportunity in these editorials to single out one of my favorite drawings of his, and talk a little bit about why I like it so much. So here goes.
The first thing I like in this work is the action, the obviously hopeless struggle. The turning of the upper body, especially the angle of the shoulders, the flowing hair, even the wide stance: everything is suggesting motion! Accentuated by the circular background.You can almost see the figure move in your mind, seeing her wrestle with the inescapable restraints. Which brings me to another point: the beauty of the design of the restraints. I'll come back to that a lot. The fact that Bishop was trained as a technical artist obviously benefit him where it came to dream up all these wonderful bondage items. Also, I would like to point out how well the ball gag is forced deep into the mouth. All to often you see models portrait (in real life as well in art) with the gag merely tied almost in front of their mouth, completely missing the point. Then there is that voyeuristic element of the shirt becoming undone, and her impotence to correct it.
But perhaps the most stunning element is the crotch strap. (Notice by the way that, like all the other items in the drawing, this strap has volume; it doesn't consist of two lines, but three, one of the most important lessons I have learned from looking at Bishop's art). It barely serves a purpose as far as the bondage is concerned, of course. She wouldn't be able to move her hands up and down much anyway. But it does add this wonderfull predicament for the victim, as we're all aware to what too much of struggling will lead in the end...
Coco
CBAP