Fig. 1: Detail from Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam (1508-12)
Fig. 2: Detail from Jim French's Longhorns - Dance (1969)
I.
The phrase almost, but not quite touching invariably evokes Michelangelo's iconic fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, where the index fingers of God and Adam reach toward each other without quite making contact. It's an image that theologians and art critics have discussed for centuries.
Many argue that it illustrates how, following the anticipated Fall of Man, there will be a spiritual rift between humanity and God the Father. Others, however, suggest that if Adam but stretch his finger he can still connect with his Creator - the choice is his (even if perfection remains unattainable).
I suppose it might also be said that the space between fingers - across which many viewers imagine a divine spark leaping - serves to remind us that there are things beyond our grasp, suspended between the tangible and intangible, absence and presence.
II.
The phrase almost, but not quite touching also makes me think, however, of another artwork: - one that is not so widely known or replicated, even though it rather beautifully symbolises ideas of anticipation and yearning ...
The picture in question is a homoerotic illustration produced in charcoal and ink by the American artist Jim French in 1969, working under the pseudonym Rip Colt [1]. It depicts two cowboys "facing each other in side profile [...] one wearing a denim jacket, the other a leather waistcoat" [2], but naked from the waist down except for their boots and gun belts.
The cowboy on the right is shown rather tenderly adjusting the other's neckerchief. It's not this detail, however, which initially catches one's eye. Rather, it's the fact that their "semi-flaccid penises, prominently on display, are close to touching" [3].
First released as part of a six-print series, the image was then reproduced in The Colt Album (1973) and issue #7 of the magazine Manpower! (1974). It gained much wider notoriety, however, when Malcolm McLaren and his partner Vivienne Westwood appropriated the design for their 'Cowboys' T-shirt - as sold in their King's Road boutique and as worn by members of the Sex Pistols [4].
III.
While separated by centuries and vastly different cultural contexts, both images discussed here ultimately derive their power from the exact same spatial politics.
Thus, whether it is the distance between the fingers of Man and God, or the erotically charged gap between two sets of male genitalia, the magic lies entirely in the fact that they are almost, but not quite touching.
Reconciliation and fulfilment are withheld, and the viewer in each case is left suspended in that exquisite, agonising space of pure anticipation.
It seems that in the world of art as in the world of sex, edging is a key concept used to prolong an experience and keep everyone aroused (though I believe those in the art world prefer to speak of liminality).
Notes
[1] As well as his artwork, Jim French (1932 - 2017) is famous for establishing Colt Studio - an independent gay porn business - with his business partner Lou Thomas in 1967. His legacy of homoerotic images, spread across a wide spectrum of formats and media, is one that has shaped the cultural perception of the male body and his artwork and photography has been hailed as iconic and seminal (no pun intended).
If you like hypermasculine nudes - construction workers, cowboys, sailors, bikers in leather, etc. - then French is the artist for you (just as Village People will probably be your disco group of choice).
[2] Paul Gorman, The Life and Times of Malcolm McLaren (Constable, 2020), p. 265.
[3] Ibid.
[4] The only addition made by McLaren and Westwood to the original image was some imaginary dialogue between the two figures. French was not particularly pleased by his illustration becoming one of the key visual provocations of the punk movement without his agreement and without his being financialy compensated.
For more information, see the post 'Double Exposure' (19 Jan 2025) in which I discuss this T-shirt and image (in relation to a painting by D. H. Lawrence).
