JAP BAP

I'm not really sure why, but the Bronze Age Pervert aesthetic has been winning on the Internet for some time now.

This aesthetic is essentially gay muscle men, presented partly ironically, in order to serve as a useful conduit for various "counter cultural," "alternative," or even subversive ideas, whatever these may be. It is also probably being boosted by nefarious operations funded by foreign governments. Who knows?

Anyway, if the BAParistas want a Japanese outpost for the weird gay schtick then they could do worse than incorporate the art of Go Mishima (1924-1988), whose art supplemented the look established by 60s novelist and gay paramilitary LARPer Yukio Mishima.

No, I don't think they were related.

Here are the essentials of the Go Mishima sub-BAP phenomenon from the English pages of the Naruyama Gallery in Tokyo.

With passionate collectors around the world, Mishima Go's Otoko-e (translated 'pictures of men') were rarely exhibited to the public. As a cult figure, Mishima was appointed illustrator for BARAZOKU (The Rose Tribe), the first magazine for gay men in Japan. He then played an important role in the publication of a revolutionary publication SABU. Contrary to prior publications as BARAZOKU, which focused on the aesthetics of western gay culture, SABU established the imagery of Japanese men through short, masculine hair, the 'FUNDOSHI' (traditional loincloth underwear), elaborate tattoos, Japanese swords and hara-kiri (or seppuku - suicide by cutting open the abdominal area). Mishima's work decorated the cover of the magazine from its beginning, and he used the medium as his canvas for the rest of his life.

Not my cup of tea, but some of our readers might appreciate it.