Teammates

I keep going back to and drawing the few spaces where men can still be naked together and comfortable.  Locker rooms, group showers, saunas, but not much else is left for naked male bonding.  I try to show the presence of male bodies and what it means to be exposed.  Within a group of men stripped bare, testosterone is as much an attitude as it is a hormone.  The scents of bare male bodies send signals of comradery while the pheromones can set off triggers of deeper connections.  Scenes of unclothed men together don’t have to be sexual, but it is masculine and the sense (and smells) of maleness tends to feed off each furtive glance, each slow-motion touch, and each knowing smile.  Of course for me… it is always sexual.

 The color is more about the negative spaces, and I think this drawing came out beautiful.

— Michael Kirwan

Teammates — 2017 — 9½" x 12¼"