Dom “Etienne” Orejudos was an American artist who drew masculine men in highly controversial poses and situations during the 1970s and 1980s, for example.

This artist who produced a prolific body of work under various names is remembered for his imaginary, surreal, exaggerated focus upon the male body, masculinity, and homosexual male sexuality. Others, like me, who attempt similar surreal works owe a debt to Orejudos for all the pioneering for which he was responsible.

Surprisingly, there are many gay men who never care to look at art that is intended for a gay male audience. I was one of them. Then, one day I accidentally saw the works of Orejudos while browsing online and I was blown away!

I immediately wished that I had taken the time to study gay art because I realized I had missed out on a terrific experience. Although Etienne worked primarily in black and white line drawings, to me, he seemed almost magical for the ways in which he knew exactly how to create surreal, exaggerated men who are so instantly appealing. As you can see in the detail image below, Orejudos demonstrated great skill in depicting highly masculine men’s bodies. He showed what he considered to be an ideal cock and balls, torso and feet, especially. He also knew how to create youthfully handsome and expressive faces. His works had a major influence upon me.

To be honest, there is also a troubling violence, men’s fear, and violation in many of the works of Orejudos. No question about that. Fear, violence and sex have a linkage that many people probably would rather deny and never consider. But, the linkage is there to be found. Without it, Orejudos could not have drawn the men and the situations that he drew. His efforts would have been disregarded had there been no connection whatsoever between fear, violence and sex.

This is a difficult and controversial matter that inevitably poses many tough questions about how and why sexualized violence can or should be an element of an gay male artist’s expression. Orejudos does not deserve credit or blame as the originator of these kinds of often disturbing visual depictions in gay surreal art. I think that he is notable because he bravely chose to create gay surreal art that some consider to be disturbing. The choice by an artist to depict what is commonly known as “CBT” (cock and ball torture) or the more extreme cutting off or mutilating of men’s genitals is one that many in the audience may find shockingly disturbing.

Explore the prolific works of Dom Orejudos under his various pseudonyms using this website’s LINKS section for gay adult men.

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Presenting samples of the visual work of others on this website is for research, critique, and scholarship as generally defined under the concept of fair use.