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Kobi Israel Views

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Synopsis

Fascinated by the subject matter of "men", Kobi Israel describes the gay lifestyle in Israel through a photobook of natural, erotic portraits of young, well–built Israelis. Soldiers are an essential element of Israeli life, and Israel depicts them, not to provoke nor to glorify war, but to celebrate the cohabitation of these men. In addition to the documentary pictures of soldiers, there are erotic pictures of imposing colourfulness and intimacy.

Review

If these are really Israeli military men, I'm considering dropping my pacifist views and emigrating to Israel to enlist. Yikes! This is one of the hottest gay erotic photo collections we've seen. Don't expect porn, this is genuinely erotic material, not filth. The book opens with a photo of superb hunk in a fruit stand sucking on a straw. The next one is a boy adjusting a shower head with his pants half pulled down. There are hunks on guard duty, washing up, on their bunks, hitching a ride. While there is little full–frontal nudity, there's so much male erotic energy in one book, it's explosive.

-- Scott Cranin

Keywords

Book, Military/Soldier, Nudity, Photography

Genres

Books, Photography/Art

Customer Reviews

A Touching View of Young Israeli Troops from Both Public and Private Sides

Grady Harp wrote on 08/03/2010:

This short portfolio by Israeli artist Kobi Israel is more a document about repression within the military setting than it is a survey of fine photography. The images, while always interesting and touching and revealing of inner conflicts, aren't up to the finely honed artistic status of his other works. But the fact that the message is so powerful forgives any artistic looseness: the photographs are more like snapshots and in the long run that contributes to the power of his story.

As Israel so well explains his stance, "The thin line between homo-social and homo-erotic in army life can be so confusing and torturous for a gay soldier. Soldiers hug and kiss each other, say 'I love you brother' to each other, sleep together - sometimes lean on each others' chests, sometimes share a tiny mattress, have communal showers where they play 'boy games' like throwing water and soap on each other, sometimes share a hot shower,...". "In 1988 when I was 18, I joined the army. In a series of photos in this book I have tried to recreate the feeling of loneliness that I suddenly felt, torn by confusing emotions of 'brotherly' love and sexual attraction to my fellow soldiers, by fear mixed with beauty and fantasy. Soldiers look manly, confident and beautiful. So are the soldiers in my photos. But look at their eyes ... they reveal the real feelings. A body full of beauty, masculinity and youth, when erupting with sexuality, can be misleading - the eyes tell the full story - there is a deep loneliness, a hidden forbidden passion, fear and confusion in these eyes."

In this time of war throughout the globe it is well to read and look at Israel's view of camaraderie in the military. Understanding the soldiers' needs and fears and the way those feelings are acted out is a quiet revelation. Kobi Israel is an artist with a heart. Recommended.

Grady Harp