When Anthony Rom calls his series Mountain, you think there’s going to be a landscape backdrop. Like Patagonia, snowy peaks, naked guy in front of a glacial lake for the metaphor of solitude. You open the gallery, and then, surprise: the mountain in question is on the model’s back.
Because this guy is hairy as an adult bear coming out of hibernation. And I weigh my words. Not the stylish little fuzz of the forty-something who bikes. Not the Brazilian body hair we celebrated last week. No, here we’re talking real fur. Dense, dark carpet of hair that starts from the nape, covers the shoulder blades, goes down slightly rising on the lower back, then dives onto the ass and continues on the thighs without ever stopping. He’s a man, but he’s also almost an entire season.
The photo that struck me is taken from the foot of the bed. The guy is on all fours, back turned, head turned toward the window. The ass cheeks are right in the center of the frame, well-defined, and the light comes from the left to highlight every strand of hair. You see the hole barely opening at the bottom of the crack, you see the balls hanging between the thighs, you see the cock extending forward. And you also see bare feet stretched on the black sheet, in a late morning intimacy that I couldn’t explain rationally.
Light bear, but real man nonetheless
What makes this series different from the “bear” shoots we usually see is that the guy isn’t a big build. No belly, no oversized waist. He’s an otter in the truest sense of the term — fairly slim silhouette, decent but not hypertrophied muscle mass, and this full fur coat that changes everything. There’s something deeply masculine in this combination: a body you can tell is light, agile, ready to move, but dressed in hair like a guy who’s never touched a razor in his life. It’s rare, it’s precious.
Anthony Rom also has the good taste not to overdo the staging. Natural window light, dark sheet, white textured wall, old radiator on the right. It looks like a Parisian artist’s studio taken over by a guy who agreed to get naked on a Sunday morning for a coffee and croissant. The sobriety of the setting gives all the space to the model, and to the fur that covers him.
I’m going to be honest: if you’re more team “smooth down to the chin,” this series isn’t for you (and I don’t judge you, we each have our schools). But if like me you go crazy for the guy who smells like warm skin and black soap, the guy you want to press against yourself to run your hand over his back like you’re petting a golden retriever, then there, my friends, you’re served.
Mountain by Anthony Rom is scheduled in my favorites next to a good Icelandic folk playlist and a big glass of water. You can thank the photographer while you’re at it. And you can also start to stop shaving your own back, just to see.
