Here is some more pro wrestling inspired artwork by the artist Bazotter. This sleeper drawing is titled: “For Ron.” The goateed victim of the sleeper is a man that the artist has wrestled with in the past, and the drawing is a gift and tribute to him:
“The drawing is called ‘For Ron’ because it’s a way of saying thanks for all the good wrestles we’ve had.”
Bazotter occasionally blurs the line between real life and the fantasy world depicted in his drawings by incorporating men that he knows into his masterpieces. This is similar to the way many wrestling lovers will fantasize about a celebrity or an acquaintance getting in the ring.
You may recognize Ron as the man delivering a Bodyslam in my previous gallery of Bazotter’s work…
The obvious statement made by this drawing is that the wrestlers are feeling excited by the act of wrestling. They aren’t wrestling solely for competition; they’re wrestling for pleasure.
So the name of this work — “For Ron” — could indicate that this image is a gift to Ron, or it could be interpreted to mean that the Sleeper Hold itself was once a gift of pleasure “for Ron” to enjoy experiencing.
This next drawing by Bazotter features a maneuver many of you have told me you enjoy seeing, feeling, and dreaming about: the dreaded Gut Punch. The attacker sinks his huge, meaty fist into the flabby gut of the gasping victim, penetrating his exposed mid-section to drive the air out of his stomach. (Admit it, some of you are turned on right now…)
The artist has captured that moment of impact when fist meets flesh: “It’s about that smack isn’t it? And the OOMMPPHH! That’s what this is about — that contact.”
Here is a wider view — check out the big, thick, masculine body on the Puncher:
An important feature of this drawing, which the artist handled with great precision and detail, is the facial expressions on both the satisfied attacker and the victim selling the pain of the gut punch: “It’s the moment of impact, the recipient is about to double up. The guy giving is looking forward to that. He knows, he likes it.”
In Bazotter’s artwork, the passion is conveyed as much by their faces as by their bulging trunks.
As with most Bazotter drawings, the wrestler in this image (called “Sparky”) is powerfully built, thickly muscled, hyper-masculine, and aggressive looking. The artist explained to me the reasons for his attraction to wrestlers with rough and tough appearances like Mr. Sparky:
“‘I grew up watching wrestlers who to me, looked like the guy next door. One wrestling friend once said they are ‘a bit like your dad’, not literally mine, but middle aged guys with a few more pounds on them, and I understand that because I grew up in a family of builders/plasterers etc. so I was surrounded by big rough builder types coming round the house.
The wrestlers I grew up watching were 
not body builder types, they’re builders, rugby players, thick set men. Growing up going to rugby clubs means you meet men who are almost frightening with their ultra masculinity and that’s always somewhere in the background.”
I can relate to Bazotter’s attraction to men of this type, having grown up on pro wrestling in the 1970’s when Real Men, stocky bearish types, populated the ring. Maybe that’s why I enjoy his drawings — because I “get” the potency and dominance inherent in men such as these. Maybe you had to be there — maybe you had to be a certain age while watching such aggressive, brawny daddies in the ring — to fully understand the beauty and appeal of Bazotter’s work.
“Sparky” by the way, the subject of the above drawing, is also an acquaintance of the artist, and the drawing was created as a thank you to him. “He’s some one real and this is a portrait. He’s a grown man with a twinkle in his eye. There’s fire and knowledge in those eyes with friendliness beneath.”
If you want to see many more great works by this artist, be sure to join his Yahoo Group. And as a final bonus, Bazotter shared with me a few links to the types of wrestling videos that have inspired his wrestling artwork:
- “King Ben vs Ray Robinson: These guys are the wrestlers I grew up with in the 1980s. Both wrestlers are the kind of men I found attractive then and now.”
- “Ronnie Garvin match: Everything, especially the beast in blue looks great, check out those tight blue trunks! And wearing a mask brings out the beast in some men. Garvin is a great wrestler and boy does he take some punishment. pulling the trunks to land a gut sinker, woof!”