Men at Work curated by Wendy Hainstock Historically the world of art has been a male dominated sphere, but with the emergence of the post-modernist ideals of visual culture, | feel that the contemporary lacks (to some extent), a safe forum in which men are able to express their identity. Work produced by men is often stereotyped based on their gender. This is partly due to the fact that the viewer relies on their own preconceptions of the ‘male experience’ and what that encompasses, rather than examining the work objectively. | organised this exhibit as'‘a way to enter into the discourse of gender perception and as an inquiry into how men percieve them- selves. In addition, what is also of interest is what issues surround gen- der-specific shows, and concurrently, who’s opinions ‘are voiced in the process. The challenge for me as a woman is how to assemble and cri- tique something that! inherently know nothing about. The exclusitivity of a’ gender-specific: show may seen as a political statement alone and may denote some sort of shared ‘male’ experience, but what surfaces is diversity. Buddy Matthews Director The Fighter Whines, +999. 16mm _ colour film, 5 minutes This film is the latest in a series based on poems by Neil Eustache.What Neil and | have tried to do, using him as a character, was to evade expectations attached to his First Nations ancestry. | there- fore, attempted to direct him not as a "native character" but as a char- acter who happened to be Native. Furthermore, this film deals with an akward love triangle (real or imagined) and reveals the ways men can camouflage their vulnerability through language. It is precisely what the characters don’t say - "I feel really sad and | think you did it", or "I know I'm hurting you and | feel guilty", that becomes implicit in the things they do and say. Andrew Fransblow Paradigm Flux 35mm digital print Male identity has been in a state of flux since the closure of the Second World War. Our fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers secured their own identities within the context of both the First and Second World War. In other words, their time spent in battle affirmed their righteousness within the male paradigm of conflict. Men today have been denied this right of passage, denied the opportunity to secure their own identity within a model of conflict. The Cold War, presumably intended as our defining moment, never mani- fested itself into a tangible arena for men to baptise their inherent appetite for conflict, its outcomes eventually to be determined on an economic front. Western Man again sought identity in Vietnam, but the world denied it again in light of the obvious absurdity that surrounded its intentions and outcomes. There were no heros in Vietnam, One could argue in fact that the battleground has internalised itself. The conflict has moved from a war-zone into our backyard. Domestic violence, gang war- fare, and random acts of terror such as the killings at Ecole Polytechnique, constitute a larger and larger portion of our nightly newscast. One can only hope that this model of conflict as it relates to male identity, will soon be behind us. This however, is entirely dependent on a new model within which the male may situate himself. Until then, men will continue to struggle within the confines of a conflictual mind- set, a mindset that that continues to be denied its own fufillment. Ryan Murphy Satyr, 1999 Acrylic on canvas, 32"x 38" The satyr is beaten and shared, chained to garbage cans in dark alleys where he lurks drunkenly while the corporate phalluses that have chained him there rise behind him in replacement. Ishi Dinim Entitle 8x10 Photo/photocopies/thoughts | feel it is important that men are able to define themselves. Free from historical distinctions, celebrating their contemporary identi- ty. We need some positivity to balance the negativity. - Clive Tucker Detail - Which way do you dress? Sixty ceramic penises Installation, waist high, four walls of a small room White stonervave and porcelain High clay matt-glazefired in reduction to cone ten (1300'C) Thrown, altered and assembled. | made this work as a celebration of the male anatomy. Not one, but sixty and all different. The number sixty has many connota- tions, the working life, sixty years, the working hours, sixty minutes and one minute of my time, sixty seconds. Penises are a ridiculous appendage, useful, absurd, amusing, sculptural and fun.The finish in matt cream glaze enhances the sculptural significance referencing the marble sculptures of the Greeks, Romans and the Renaissance, and is inviting to be touched. The variety of shapes speaks about the diversity of men, their minds and their thoughts. It alludes to all sorts.of everyday. objects that derive from, or just are phallic’in nature. Items as diverse’ as pipes, taps, coathooks and candles. So what is there. to celebrate? Not the overt macho masculine patriarchy, but being. It is a refreshing look at the world of men for your delight, or disgust. Nathan Strijack Love is the Devil (Self Portrait) Acrylic on Canvas Two caught in the headlights of doomed love, this portrait pokes fun at the self; the madness, superstition, idiocy of men in love, hellbent on making it work. 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