ALAN HOFFMAN

Tenderness has gained increasing accep-
tance as an adult masculine virtue. But this
acceptance is incomplete, and armour
retains its appeal in the masculine ward-
robe for the distancing effect it produces.

The emblazoned shirt, chinos and _ spit-
polished boots Alan wears can be used as
armour. His wallet chain is an accessory
that only reinforces this impression.

These clothes can be put to work con-
cealing the individual and his feelings,
tender and otherwise, beneath the simu-
lation of a uniform and its connotations of
desensitisation. Self-distancing is nego-
tiated away and tenderness offered up
only if the conditions seem right.

In Alan’s case, the individual physicality he
conveys through his face, hands and
posture clashes with and even satirizes the
de-personalisation of the codes in his
clothing. This is a fairly direct way of
asserting the primacy of the creative
individual in the willful appropriation and
re-ordering of social codes.

Photography by Mia Cunningham; art direction by Harald Gravelsins

March 1997 / Planet of the Arts 25
ALAN HOFFMAN

Tenderness has gained increasing accep-
tance as an adult masculine virtue. But this
acceptance is incomplete, and armour
retains its appeal in the masculine ward-
robe for the distancing effect it produces.

‘The emblazoned shirt, chinos and spit-
polished boots Alan wears can be used as
armour. His wallet chain is an accessory
that only reinforces this impression.

These clothes can be put to work con-
cealing the individual and his feelings,
tender and otherwise, beneath the simu-
lation of a uniform and its connotations of
desensitisation. Self-distancing is nego-
tiated away and tenderness offered up
only if the conditions seem right.

In Alan‘s case, the individual physicality he
conveys through his face, hands and
posture clashes with and even satirizes the
de-personalisation of the codes in his
clothing. This is a fairly direct way of
asserting the primacy of the creative
individual in the willful appropriation and
re-ordering of social codes.

March 1997 / Planet of the Arts 25