Rough Trade Resister – 16x20” Gay Nude Drawing, Crayon & Pastel on Tan Paper by Kenney Mencher
FREE SHIPPING
Shipping takes 3-4 Weeks
This ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. A suburb outside of Chicago.
I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
This drawing is called Rough Trade Resister. It plays with another classic queer archetype—the tough guy, the working-class hunk, the man who looks like he might be trouble... and that’s the point. He’s got the beard, the cap, and the rough physicality that taps into a kind of raw masculinity that’s deeply coded in gay visual culture.
But look closer. The cap reads RESIST, and it’s signed with my name and the year. That’s not just branding—it’s part of the message. This figure might look like he's part of a power fantasy, but he’s also resisting the idea that queerness has to be tidy, sanitized, or made palatable.
I used black crayon and white pastel on warm tan paper to emphasize the texture of the body hair, the play of light on his chest and abs, and to carve out the form without fully finishing it. There’s something unfinished and raw about the whole thing—almost like a protest sketch that became erotic.
The facial features are mostly hidden in shadow under the brim of the cap, and that’s intentional too. It makes the body itself the focus, but also allows the viewer to project, to imagine, to take part in shaping the fantasy. That anonymity is part of what gives it its heat—and its universality.
Stylistically, it flirts with the boldness of Tom of Finland’s work, but strips away the polish. It’s more Bischoff than idealized comic book. The linework is fast, rough, and assertive—like something you’d scrawl in the margins of a notebook if you didn’t care who saw. The pastel highlights give it a graphic, almost chalky light that brings volume to the musculature without hiding the surface.
This drawing isn’t just sexy—it’s about claiming space. It challenges authority, even while echoing it. It asks who gets to look powerful, and how that power is coded, shared, or rejected.
Details:
Title: Rough Trade Resister
Medium: Crayon and pastel on tan paper
Size: 16 x 20 inches
Year: 2025
Signed “RESIST 2025 KMM” on front
Unframed
Ships flat in archival sleeve with board backing
FREE SHIPPING
Shipping takes 3-4 Weeks
This ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. A suburb outside of Chicago.
I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
This drawing is called Rough Trade Resister. It plays with another classic queer archetype—the tough guy, the working-class hunk, the man who looks like he might be trouble... and that’s the point. He’s got the beard, the cap, and the rough physicality that taps into a kind of raw masculinity that’s deeply coded in gay visual culture.
But look closer. The cap reads RESIST, and it’s signed with my name and the year. That’s not just branding—it’s part of the message. This figure might look like he's part of a power fantasy, but he’s also resisting the idea that queerness has to be tidy, sanitized, or made palatable.
I used black crayon and white pastel on warm tan paper to emphasize the texture of the body hair, the play of light on his chest and abs, and to carve out the form without fully finishing it. There’s something unfinished and raw about the whole thing—almost like a protest sketch that became erotic.
The facial features are mostly hidden in shadow under the brim of the cap, and that’s intentional too. It makes the body itself the focus, but also allows the viewer to project, to imagine, to take part in shaping the fantasy. That anonymity is part of what gives it its heat—and its universality.
Stylistically, it flirts with the boldness of Tom of Finland’s work, but strips away the polish. It’s more Bischoff than idealized comic book. The linework is fast, rough, and assertive—like something you’d scrawl in the margins of a notebook if you didn’t care who saw. The pastel highlights give it a graphic, almost chalky light that brings volume to the musculature without hiding the surface.
This drawing isn’t just sexy—it’s about claiming space. It challenges authority, even while echoing it. It asks who gets to look powerful, and how that power is coded, shared, or rejected.
Details:
Title: Rough Trade Resister
Medium: Crayon and pastel on tan paper
Size: 16 x 20 inches
Year: 2025
Signed “RESIST 2025 KMM” on front
Unframed
Ships flat in archival sleeve with board backing
FREE SHIPPING
Shipping takes 3-4 Weeks
This ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. A suburb outside of Chicago.
I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
This drawing is called Rough Trade Resister. It plays with another classic queer archetype—the tough guy, the working-class hunk, the man who looks like he might be trouble... and that’s the point. He’s got the beard, the cap, and the rough physicality that taps into a kind of raw masculinity that’s deeply coded in gay visual culture.
But look closer. The cap reads RESIST, and it’s signed with my name and the year. That’s not just branding—it’s part of the message. This figure might look like he's part of a power fantasy, but he’s also resisting the idea that queerness has to be tidy, sanitized, or made palatable.
I used black crayon and white pastel on warm tan paper to emphasize the texture of the body hair, the play of light on his chest and abs, and to carve out the form without fully finishing it. There’s something unfinished and raw about the whole thing—almost like a protest sketch that became erotic.
The facial features are mostly hidden in shadow under the brim of the cap, and that’s intentional too. It makes the body itself the focus, but also allows the viewer to project, to imagine, to take part in shaping the fantasy. That anonymity is part of what gives it its heat—and its universality.
Stylistically, it flirts with the boldness of Tom of Finland’s work, but strips away the polish. It’s more Bischoff than idealized comic book. The linework is fast, rough, and assertive—like something you’d scrawl in the margins of a notebook if you didn’t care who saw. The pastel highlights give it a graphic, almost chalky light that brings volume to the musculature without hiding the surface.
This drawing isn’t just sexy—it’s about claiming space. It challenges authority, even while echoing it. It asks who gets to look powerful, and how that power is coded, shared, or rejected.
Details:
Title: Rough Trade Resister
Medium: Crayon and pastel on tan paper
Size: 16 x 20 inches
Year: 2025
Signed “RESIST 2025 KMM” on front
Unframed
Ships flat in archival sleeve with board backing
