Anti-Static:Saturday Morning Videos

I was am still part of a group show at the MK Gallery (Portland, OR) for video installation artists running June 17th -26th, 2010 .

Some fabulous pics by artist Jason Ungar of the show after the jump.

A Phallacy [sic] : A few thoughts on cock...

While the male form is celebrated in ancient sculptures and paintings few things seem more taboo than showing a penis, and nothing is more verboten than showing an erect penis. Within the context of Motel (and to a greater extent in the context of my work in general) I use male nudity to speak of vulnerability, of homo-eroticism, of male bonding and of freedom. The great in-betweens of youth and maturation,the covered and the bare, flaccid and erect are all elements of everyday life often shunned by observation. As an individual I was a painfully shy adolescent who would not remove so much as his shirt at the height of summer when the day time temperatures soared over 100˙ F for weeks on end. As an artist I confront my shyness in the most extreme way (for me at least) I can, by putting myself full on display. Objectifying and eroticizing the self seems to be a trend amongst the digital age. It is our new national past time and private affliction. Never one to run naked through a party I now expose myself in screenings world wide, in galleries, and of course, online. The private is being made public online through the fallacy of privacy in a digital age. The self is the new sexuality it seems.

Interior screen shot of Motel

Another screen shot of Motel

The Personal is Political is Personal: Revolutionary Sex Acts.

I certainly never envisioned myself posing nude let alone actually having sex as part of my work. Yes, like most (if not all) men, gay or straight, I'd had the porn star fantasy, but realistically knew that wasn't going to happen. I looked around and realized I live as a second class citizen in the "land of the free" . Queer artists and their art were marginalized to silence and depictions of gay men were completely sexless fashionable "best friends" counter points to sad lonely single ladies in nameless cities populating sitcom universes. I am not sexless. The Personal is political- a tired slogan dusted off and every bit as true and as needed now. Can fucking be an act of revolution? Bonding with another, building a community of lovers, a family, growing confident in one's self. Losing yourself (literally) in your fellow man can be revolutionary. Displaying the deeply personal is highly politically charged move for a queer artist and not one I take lightly. This is not about making porn, {though I do consider myself aligned with turn-of-the-(last)-century erotica,} this is about empowerment, from not hiding, about baring the body and soul to reveal the universal human truths. We are all the human animal.