Remembering Bishop

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  mouth is sealed. All to often you see models portrait (in real life as well in  art) with the ball  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