Artist Statement 2010
My work relies on both traditional and digital practices in Camera work, Printing, and Presentation. I am constantly exploring the possibility for a visual language to disrupt cultural norms.
Presenting my work in 2007, I wanted to focus on issues of desire as found in The Ubiquitous Fat Butt Shot. My proposal: A Guide to the "Extrasized" Queer Male, and Solo-show, “Working Alone”, followed from my research and production of work that focused on issues of "Body Politic". While others have examined the subject on several fronts, I liked my approach: looking to redress or confront standards of beauty and reveal identities driven by issues of desire. My current body of work: "Spaces" (around the home and at play) 2010, shares similar characteristics, while introducing additional elements.
Exploring relationships and complimentary styles, and types, it becomes evident in many of the images in this new body of work, “Spaces”, that one figure tends to dominate the frame over another. Relying on humor and traditional photo practices combined with multiple prints, the images are a representation of a co-habitation of “Space” seen from a distinctive, agressive point-of-view. Often working with friends, I am using the camera as a mirror of my own body and its position in the frame: dominant, co-opting couture, and reflecting a strength and pride not often associated with the “extrasized other”. A selection of the studies also reveals a desire found on the fringes of Queer identity, and closely examines a certain intimate “aloneness” sometimes found existing there.
