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Saturday 16 April 2016

Ulf Retrospective - 2006

Ulf’s output was just as prolific in 2006 as in 2005. My collection of his images from this year, purely compiled from examples which have come my way, runs to 150 pictures.

1
 

Ulf - (title not known)

A goodly proportion of these works are his continued explorations of fantastical worlds with naked men marooned on islands or wandering through bizarre landscapes and magical woods where be-winged creatures (male fairies?) wistfully pine amongst over-sized mushrooms. These works are imaginative and artfully crafted suggesting man being at one with nature, but they are also often imbued with a sense of loneliness and isolation. In this example the interaction with the landscape seems to become disturbingly physical while the gloomy half-light seems to be the harbinger of a mighty storm.


2

Ulf - Get your ass over here

In any year Ulf is much preoccupied with portrayals of men as idealised, strong and sexual creatures, but it’s usually in pin-up style, admiring from a distance. This portrait of a GI however has a more intimate quality. Ulf’s world does not consist of universal prettiness but this man’s mature face is full of character and lends his muscular, hairy body a sort of unthreatening softness and welcoming warmth that makes the peremptory instruction of the title seem quite playful. The anatomy is exaggerated but in a controlled way and the rendering of the jockstrap is very convincing.


3

Ulf - It just keeps gowing Doc

Speaking of exaggeration, gargantuan cocks were a favourite device of Tom of Finland and he liked to show them attracting a crowd of youthful admirers. Ulf’s take on the same idea causes mystification and rather unprofessional embarrassment. But how cool is the patient here? He looks out to us with smug satisfaction rather than the anxiety you might expect from the title, as though confident that this organ is going to be a passport to success in life. 


The product on the table in the foreground seems to challenge the medic to take the problem in hand. I’m not familiar with the packaging but I imagine it’s a recognisable product to Americans and I’d be interested to know the connection Ulf seems to be making here. 


There are some curious swirls and stripes in the sheets and the medic’s clothing, it seems to be an experiment in depicting creases and you’ll see it in other images included here too. There’s some nice shadowing on the medic’s shoulders but his trousers are less successful, turning into a bit of a spray-on job below the knee.


4

Ulf - Ready for more?

This is one of Ulf’s best known images from 2006 and you can see why it gets reproduced a lot. Here we have a cute, young soldier up before one of his NCO’s, a man who is older and bigger but not particularly attractive. The title seems to imply a sort of initiation-cum-brat-taming going on and the soldier’s hand-wrapping is intimidating. You also sense his oversize cock is expecting more than simple admiration this time. It’s not quite clear whether the liquid dripping from the captive’s face is sweat, spit or something else. 


In this picture Ulf seems to capture the sense of unchallengeable institutional power that we saw in the “Guys in Uniform” (GIU) series I revisited recently. Oddly enough when Ulf produced his own direct adaptation of a GIU image (also in this year) he seemed to dispense with this subtlety.


The tap on the wall makes up a symbolic penile threesome with the two protagonists like a cock in a glory hole wanting participation without commitment. I suppose we are looking at our own reflections in a way here or perhaps Ulf is just underlining how this situation is so sexy that even inanimate objects want to join in.


5
 

Ulf - I'll be right with you
 
There’s normally a ‘predicament’ scene in Ulf’s work and this one has a satisfying subtlety and simplicity. In a vast, bare and very clinical room, the bound subject stands to attention before a stool with handcuffs lying on the seat on the one side and, on the other, a red box that we recognise from other pictures as a portable electrical power device. There’s a nice symmetry in the scene and a precariousness about his pose that seems to underline his situation. Although he is only restrained by the arms it seems like there’s no place for him to go in this empty space. Alone with these instruments he can only contemplate what lies ahead.

 6

Ulf - Morning Wood #3
 
There’s sensitivity of a different kind in ‘Morning Wood’ which is another exploration of the sequenced picture story format by this artist. This set is more narrowly focussed than ‘Dangerous Marine’ and ‘Buddy System’, simply following a young marine waking up and then going to the toilet to empty his bladder and beat off. This is almost Turner Prize territory in its sparseness of content but the opening images like this one are beautifully observed and depicted sensitively and romantically. That atmosphere evaporates when the marine enters the bathroom which is cold and crude. The final images are bleakly functional. This transition from dreamy sentimentality to the banal is insightful in some ways, but something of an anti-climax visually.


7
 

Ulf - Clean it good, there's more
 
Ulf did not neglect his political interests in 2006 either. This earthy scene acquires a different dimension when you read the notice on the toilet door. The kneeling figure remains dressed in his spiv-like, best clubbing clothes (his undercover disguise?) which makes his cleaning chore seem all the more inconvenient. 

The man dominating him is portrayed with a heroically muscular torso and a determined face, totally in control. His camouflage gear belongs to a gay stereotype of a more hardened kind than policemen expect to deal with. This image warms the cockles.


8
 

Ulf - Only I can help you
 
This is one of my personal favourites. The restraint position of the captive is erotically well-tuned and leaves him sitting uncomfortably exposed. His erection tells us he's ready to enjoy his partner's attentions. Its relatively normal proportions confer a frisson of realism. The title of this piece is somewhat puzzling, it sounds like the mind games of an interrogator in the movies, impressing on his captive the advisability of spilling the beans before he is passed on to someone less considerate. However, the visual image seems to be more of a dungeon roleplay aimed at bringing about a spillage of a different sort.


9
 

Ulf – Another Keeper


This idea harks back to the 2005 “Can I Keep Him?” image and there are others in 2006 where a particularly succulent man is carried off, destined for a protracted period of amusement with his collector. Drawn purely from the imagination, Ulf has managed to inject a tingling element of unreformed redneck into the collector. 

The petrol pump attendant with his slinky, sprayed-on overalls, open to the waist and failing to conceal a huge dick is an extraordinary, gender-blurring contrast. It’s as though it’s his job to stand there enticing passing motorists. He leans seductively on his pump watching the removal with complete unconcern as though it’s regular occurrence in this neck of the woods. 

Many gay men fantasise about earthy, dominant lovers and we all have our dreams about objects of desire which seem beyond our reach. Ulf’s playful resolution of the quandary as a boy’s game must have wide appeal

.

10
 

Ulf - Take a whiff
 
I couldn’t claim this article to be a representative sample of Ulf’s 2006 work without including an image simply depicting the enjoyment of sex. Older men teaching the younger men a thing or two seems to be the standout theme of this year’s pictures and you can see the similarity of the well-used jockstrap on the left to that worn by the mature GI in picture 2 above. Compare the realistic way it is drawn with the one on the right which shows the artist’s style evolving.


This typically sleazy setting and could easily be what’s at the rear of the filling station in the previous picture. However, despite the folded arms there’s nothing sinister going on here just the physical attractions of maturity being recognised for a change and these two can hardly believe their luck.



series to be continued
(To read these articles from the beginning start with Ulf Retrospective - 2000

Ulf has a blog The Ulfian which is an interesting mix of his art, political comment and selected porn.
There's also an Ulfian fan club on Google Groups which you have to join (but it's free). 


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