Fetishes I Don't Have

Hello! This month, I cut off a tiny piece of my thumb with a mandolin at work and haven't been able to hold a pen to draw with until this week. I decided to experiment with collage. I also borrowed my neighbor's Korg Electribe 2 and made some beats that I'm currently editing with my laptop and writing lyrics for.

These are the ones I like the most:

A few months ago, I found an old 1997-2001 Toyota Camry repair manual. My interest in cars is closer to birdwatching than anything. I like identifying specific models, but I've never owned a car and have no understanding of how they work. As an outsider, the manual's black-and-white images of disembodied hands reaching into ominous masses of interlocking metal components look beautiful, intimidating, and strangely intimate to me.

"Mechanophilia 3", 8.25x11.75", collage, May 2026

The manual invoked a deeply buried memory of encountering a machine fetishist on the internet who was obsessed with the 1989 animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss's The Butter Battle Book. I was probably around 11 years old. The machines in that cartoon had terrified me when I was younger, so I was particularly intrigued by how differently this person experienced them. The pornography they drew was basically just whimsical vehicles and factories. Still, even with my limited understanding of sexuality, it seemed unnervingly lewd. This was probably my first exposure to object sexuality, where people feel attracted to things like cars, buildings, weapons, and other inanimate objects. The Objectùm-Sexuality Internationale website is a really interesting resource.

I inevitably saw all sorts of strange hand-drawn fetish porn online as a kid. I remember feeling disturbed and fascinated. Even when it depicts no sex, nudity, or even bodies, it manages to look obscene. Its aura of unbridled desire, sleaze, urgency, and extreme attention to detail is unmistakable. There is something transcendent about being driven beyond shame by uncontrollable need to create something that wouldn't exist otherwise. It hasn't been commodified and sold yet because it is too unusual or abhorrant to conventional taste.

"Mechanophilia 2", 7.5x5", collage, May 2026

It's often apparent when an artist doesn't have the kink they're depicting. The tasteful, Corporate Memphis-style illustrations of whips and handcuffs you might see accompanying a mainstream article about BDSM convey no sleaze whatsoever, which is a real shame. I haven't seen a professional designer's attempt to depict a more niche fetish, but I'm sure even Sonic inflation porn could be translated into palatable, lifeless vector art by any technically good illustrator. Making art inspired by a fetish you don't have is like trying to season a soup when you're sick with a cold and can barely taste.

I ran into this problem. I'm unable to experience firsthand what aspects of machinery mechanophiles find arousing, so I was only able to focus on things like composition and color. My collages don't really look pornographic. This one is the closest to what I was trying to achieve, for reasons I don't fully understand:

"Mechanophilia 1", 7.75x5.25", collage, May 2026

1. "Party In The Usa" - fish [link]
2. "i simply must get thru" - 3m4 [link]
3. "Nekobasu" - Yung Lean
4. "바늘 (Needle)" - Nastyona
5. "I'm The Type" - Sasha Go Hard
6. "i scream this in the mirror before i interact with anyone" - JPEGMAFIA
7. "Good Bitch" - LM Kayla
8. "We Saw The Sun!" - Lil Yachty
9. "Un Lio (feat. Omega)" - Ozuna
10. "I'm Not Shy Anymore" - Wild Man Fischer
11. "I Wonder Why My Favorite Boy Leaves Me In The Rain" - The Marshmallow Kisses
12. "Synthetic Overture (Satan's Lullaby)" - Ata Ebtekar
13. "Til Further Notice (Ft. 21 Savage & James Blake)" - Travis Scott
14. "]]" - // [link]

Thanks for looking! Contact max@maxwickstrom.com.
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