Exhibitionist
There has been a recent examination of how the gay male culture scrutinizes the male form and generalizes the ideals of what is sexually desirable. The ideals seem to either fall into a stacked, burly man pulsing with muscles, or wispy effeminate guys who could probably perform drag very well. When you do not fit comfortably in either group, one can’t help but feel undeserving of love.
The Exhibitionist series is a survey of the male nude in fine art and an examination of what has defined homosexual erotica and the male gaze toward other men. This is an exploration of the world of gay art and attempting to find my place in it, and interrogating if I will ever feel comfortable in my own skin.
With this series, I interrogate the many ambivalent feelings I have toward being a “queer” artist. Queer implies a certain quality of being radical. Queer implies a rebellious attitude. Queer implies a challenge to the status quo. But when the aesthetics of queer art is cemented in stone, what comes next? What does history tell us defines the queer aesthetic?
