Toweling Off, 9x12 inches, black and white crayon on tan paper by Kenney Mencher
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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 Toweling Off. It captures a moment that’s both private and quietly bold—a man drying himself, shirt pulled over his head, torso exposed. I was thinking about those fleeting in-between gestures, the ones that show off a body without trying to pose it. There's something naturally erotic and unfiltered about it.
I used black and white crayon on tan paper to build form and shadow with a bit of warmth from the background tone. The paper works great for giving the piece a sense of softness, almost like skin. The black lines give it structure and weight, while the white lets me hit the highlights across the chest and arms—those areas that catch the light just right.
The crosshatched background adds depth without being too specific. I wanted the setting to feel more like a texture than a place—like a memory or an echo. The figure becomes the focal point, especially the chest, belly, and shoulders. There’s hair, there’s weight, there’s presence.
This piece is rooted in the tradition of figure drawing, but it definitely pulls from the visual language of homoerotic art—especially work that centers bear culture and celebrates bodies that are strong, mature, and real. It has a loose, gestural quality that reminds me of Bischoff and Diebenkorn’s sketch work, but filtered through something more intimate and grounded in queer experience.
To me, this drawing is about a type of masculinity that doesn’t have to perform—it just is. Maybe it’s sexy, maybe it’s a little vulnerable, but it’s always sincere.
Details:
Title: Toweling Off
Medium: Black and white crayon on tan paper
Size: 9 x 12 inches
Year: 2025
Signed “KMM” on front
Unframed
Ships flat in archival sleeve and board
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 Toweling Off. It captures a moment that’s both private and quietly bold—a man drying himself, shirt pulled over his head, torso exposed. I was thinking about those fleeting in-between gestures, the ones that show off a body without trying to pose it. There's something naturally erotic and unfiltered about it.
I used black and white crayon on tan paper to build form and shadow with a bit of warmth from the background tone. The paper works great for giving the piece a sense of softness, almost like skin. The black lines give it structure and weight, while the white lets me hit the highlights across the chest and arms—those areas that catch the light just right.
The crosshatched background adds depth without being too specific. I wanted the setting to feel more like a texture than a place—like a memory or an echo. The figure becomes the focal point, especially the chest, belly, and shoulders. There’s hair, there’s weight, there’s presence.
This piece is rooted in the tradition of figure drawing, but it definitely pulls from the visual language of homoerotic art—especially work that centers bear culture and celebrates bodies that are strong, mature, and real. It has a loose, gestural quality that reminds me of Bischoff and Diebenkorn’s sketch work, but filtered through something more intimate and grounded in queer experience.
To me, this drawing is about a type of masculinity that doesn’t have to perform—it just is. Maybe it’s sexy, maybe it’s a little vulnerable, but it’s always sincere.
Details:
Title: Toweling Off
Medium: Black and white crayon on tan paper
Size: 9 x 12 inches
Year: 2025
Signed “KMM” on front
Unframed
Ships flat in archival sleeve and board
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 Toweling Off. It captures a moment that’s both private and quietly bold—a man drying himself, shirt pulled over his head, torso exposed. I was thinking about those fleeting in-between gestures, the ones that show off a body without trying to pose it. There's something naturally erotic and unfiltered about it.
I used black and white crayon on tan paper to build form and shadow with a bit of warmth from the background tone. The paper works great for giving the piece a sense of softness, almost like skin. The black lines give it structure and weight, while the white lets me hit the highlights across the chest and arms—those areas that catch the light just right.
The crosshatched background adds depth without being too specific. I wanted the setting to feel more like a texture than a place—like a memory or an echo. The figure becomes the focal point, especially the chest, belly, and shoulders. There’s hair, there’s weight, there’s presence.
This piece is rooted in the tradition of figure drawing, but it definitely pulls from the visual language of homoerotic art—especially work that centers bear culture and celebrates bodies that are strong, mature, and real. It has a loose, gestural quality that reminds me of Bischoff and Diebenkorn’s sketch work, but filtered through something more intimate and grounded in queer experience.
To me, this drawing is about a type of masculinity that doesn’t have to perform—it just is. Maybe it’s sexy, maybe it’s a little vulnerable, but it’s always sincere.
Details:
Title: Toweling Off
Medium: Black and white crayon on tan paper
Size: 9 x 12 inches
Year: 2025
Signed “KMM” on front
Unframed
Ships flat in archival sleeve and board
