The Problem Of Penile Presentation

The testicles rest against the uppermost of the twin dowels that run across the middle portion of the frame, but the penis itself rears free, the theme seeming to be that, although a man's body--and a man's nude body, at that--can be imprisoned, male sexuality never can be captured or restrained. To make the model stand out more, his body, framed by the wooden frame, is displayed against a blue background splotched with fluffy bands of white, almost as if he were standing against a cloudy sky. The suggestion of sky adds to the suggestion of his freedom, the whole picture an ambiguous image of capture and liberty, of restraint and unrestraint, of imprisonment and freedom.

Another means by which the penis may be displayed is to focus exclusively upon it, as one image does, showing the erect organ, close up, as it juts from a barely visible nest of tangled red pubic hair inside which the scrotum, a rounded mass truncated by the suggestion of a thigh (lost, alas, to the left border of the picture). The prick fills two thirds of the available space, showing fine, horizontal wrinkles along its erect shaft, a bulging vein, the scar tissue of the member's circumcision, and a lovely glans. The size of the display, and its isolation from most of the rest of the model's anatomy, as well as the absence of any props, background, or setting makes the viewer's mouth water. Such single-minded focus makes the models cock not a mere penis, but The Penis, the Platonic Ideal, or Form, of the true and perfect, eternal Penis, the Penis as it exists in the very mind of God, its Creator. O! he or she thinks, if only such a magnificent specimen of manhood might the touched, kissed, licked, and sucked!

The problem of penile presentation has been solved in numerous other ways. Indeed, the methods by which the display of the penis in visual art are accomplished are as numerous as there are imaginative visions for such display, and artists worthy of the name are seldom, if ever, at a loss in devising a new means to showcase the virile member, whether in drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs, or other c=visual media.