Despite the age of phallic totems and their abundance in various cultures, many of us connect the term 'erotic' mostly with the image of bare breasts. The art of Russian-born painter Andrejs Majevskis is highly amusing and majorly homoerotic. If the fetish of all heterosexual men seems tiring, the works of Majevskis, except several featuring breasts, may become a refreshing treat for a phallic obsession (promoted predominantly by homosexuals). Meanwhile, the typically female fetish seems not to exist, but it's a topic for another article or, probably, a thread...
Fig. 1. Self-portrait with a chair on the head, oil on canvas
Fig. 2. Red chair, oil on canvas
Fig. 3. Dali’s dick, oil on cardboard, 1999
Fig. 4. Gala, oil on cardboard, 1999
Fig. 5. Waltz, acryl on paper, 2001
Fig. 6. Angel, oil on canvas
Fig. 7. Kiss, crayons, 2001
Fig. 8. Andrey, oil on cardboard and canvas, 2006
Fig. 9. David, oil on cardboard and canvas, 2006
Crossing the Borders
Andrejs Majevskis was born in Omsk in 1967. After graduating from Omsk Art College in 1984, he enrolled in the Young Artists' Association. Three years later, the artist moved to Riga, Latvia. In the 1990s, he also lived and worked in Saint Petersburg, Russia, organizing projects for the Hermitage State Museum and building cultural connections between Russian and Latvian artists, which was crucial after the Soviet Union's fall, when national republics had abrasive relationships with their former "metropole." Andrejs Majevskis has been a member of the Artists' Union of Russia since 2003 and the Artists' Union of Latvia since 2004. Despite the many exhibitions he held in Russia and Latvia, the freshest info on the net dates back to 2011, when Majevskis registered an account at a web gallery and provided us with some works and short curriculum vitae. Among his paintings are illustrations of the poetry of Baudelaire, erotic letters by ancient author Aristaenetus, and the medieval Hammer of Witches. Besides graphic art, Majevskis also creates phallic totems and other wooden sculptures (fig. 10).
Fig. 10. Idol, painted wood, mosaique
Fig. 11. Illustration to the Erotic Letters of Aristaenetus
Fig. 12. Illustration to the Erotic Letters of Aristaenetus
Fig. 13. Illustration to the Erotic Letters of Aristaenetus
Fig. 14. Graphic art, masturbating female
Fig. 15. Graphic art, female performing fellatio
Summoning the Spring
There are at least two graphic drawings thematically close to the shunga genre in Majevskis' portfolio. The erotic scenes happen in a Japanese setting (sliding doors shoji, natural landscapes with mountains, and the black sun against the white background resembling the national flag). People engaged in sexual activities look half-Japanese, half-European. The pictures may be a part of the cycle of erotic variations, as the foreground figures have a similar torso, though the circumstances are different. Interestingly, the branches of trees in both images are covered in snow, so these pictures correlate with the eve of spring, not with its’ peak. The snow in the first image might be seen as an indication of the masturbating female's frigidity. Nevertheless, we support the opposite view: masturbation is shown here as a magic rite by which the female tries to melt the snow and summon the spring. As you may notice, the images of Majevskis differ from Japanese erotic in terms of genitals. The artist depicts them physically correctly, which allows him to portray a fellatio scene unusual for the shunga. Like in the case of a masturbating female, for the artist, fellatio becomes a form of sex magic.
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Fig. 17. Acquaintance with Minotaur, 2007
In Premium more on the thematic similarities with the shunga (Japanese erotic art) genre in Majevskis' art, the approach to the Minotaur theme in his Minotaur Games series, why the Minotaur theme is embraced in gay erotica, the Minotaur's sensuality as seen by the Ukrainian artist Kirill Fadeyev, the interfaces with Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Martin Van Maële and Felicien Rops, more on Majevskis' phallic totem art, and 33 additional images of his striking paintings and prints.
Click HERE for the horny minotaurs and handsome sailors of Ukrainian artist Kirill Fadeyev
Sources: all images are taken from gallery.ru