The Art of Joji

Plot

Joji is a romantic, and it shows. His drawings perfectly convey the harmony between two men, those simple, intimate moments we dream of sharing together. It’s almost impossible to remain insensitive to these sweet, tender little scenes, and it’s easy to imagine yourself in the shoes of one of his characters, holding the hand of the one you love, even if he looks nothing like Joji’s characters. Joji’s greatest talent is translating into drawings what we all wish to feel one day: that feeling of being loved. Although the majority of his drawings feature muscular, bearded men, Joji also champions bespectacled geeks, no doubt as a way of projecting himself in his drawings. So that even the slimmest and least muscular of us can imagine ourselves face to face with a bearded hunk built like a Greek god, proud of his biceps. Thanks to Joji, the strongman fantasy is now within everyone’s reach. And when Joji lets loose, his superbly muscled men let loose too, making love with strength and vigor, their bodies literally built for pleasure. Through his drawings, Joji achieves a real feat: he manages to transcribe both an almost ideal version of pure love and an almost uncontrollable physical desire. He makes us dream by mixing these two ingredients in different proportions, page after page. We’ll close this book with stars, and no doubt some little hearts too, in our eyes.