Ben Kimura (artist)

Not to be confused with Ben Kimura (politician).

Ben Kimura
木村べん
Born1947
DiedFebruary 18, 2003 (aged 56)
NationalityJapanese
Known forErotic illustration

Ben Kimura (Japanese: 木村べん, Hepburn: Kimura Ben, 1947 – February 18, 2003) was a Japanese gay erotic artist. Kimura, along with George Takeuchi and Sadao Hasegawa, is noted by artist and historian Gengoroh Tagame as a central figure in the second wave of contemporary gay artists that emerged in Japan in the 1970s.[1]

Biography

Kimura was born in 1947.[2] He began his career in gay erotic art in 1978 as illustrator and cover artist for Barazoku, the first commercially published gay magazine in Japan; he would be a regular contributor before departing the magazine in 1989.[3] He would contribute artwork to other gay magazines throughout his career, notably Sabu [ja], G-men, and SM-Z.[3] Kimura would also contribute artwork to the early yaoi magazines June and Allan, making him among the first gay artists to achieve crossover success with a female audience in yaoi publications.[2][4] He was a co-founding member of Studio Kaiz, along with Naoki Tatsuya and his partner Kihira Kai.[2][5]

Kimura's artwork was ubiquitous in gay publications in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s, with Gengoroh Tagame describing Kimura as the "face" of gay magazines in Japan.[1][2] His works typically depict handsome, masculine men rendered in a homoerotic style that is frequently romantic and sensual, rather than explicitly pornographic.[6] Artist Kazuhide Ichikawa has described Kimura's illustrations as "soft" and "nostalgic",[7] while Tagame describes his art as featuring "sporty young men who look familiar, and not beautiful men who appear disconnected from reality."[1]

On February 18, 2003, Kimura died at the age of 56 from a pulmonary embolism.[3] A tribute edition of Tan Pan Body, a collection of his works self-published in 1997, was published shortly after his death.[2] His collected works are held by Studio Kaiz.[3]

Collected works

  • 1997 – Tan-Pan Body (画集), self-published[3]
  • 1998 – Go-One Boy (作品集), self-published[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Tagame, Gengoroh (December 19, 2003). Gay Erotic Art in Japan Vol. 1: Artists From the Time of the Birth of Gay Magazines. Pottoshuppan. ISBN 978-4939015588.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Ben Kimura (1947-2003)". Catamite Gay Art Collection. June 20, 2009. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "KIMURA-Ben". Studio Kaiz. Archived from the original on June 21, 2016. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
  4. ^ Lunsing, Wim (December 20, 2015). Beyond Common Sense: Sexuality And Gender In Contemporary Japan. Routledge. p. 286. ISBN 978-1138987807.
  5. ^ "Ben Kimura, el homoerotismo más sensible". Chueca (in Spanish). October 19, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  6. ^ Gomez, Carmen (July 6, 2014). "El arte japonés se rinde antes los pies de la temática LGTBI de Ben Kimura". Malatinta Magazine (in Spanish). Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  7. ^ Ichikawa, Kazuhide (April 11, 2012). "Ben Kimura's Art Exhibition". The Lucky Bag of KAZ. Retrieved November 2, 2019.

External links