Artist Statement

Derived from the archetypal “jock” figure that populates cultural fantasy and erotic imagination, my recent work focuses on the image of the wrestler to confront my attraction to traditional masculinity. Because of the associations between the male athlete, masculinity, and straightness, my idolization of the jock figure embodies a reverence for and betrayal of conventional gender norms. As a gay immigrant, this attraction to the very system used to oppress my own sense of self worth and personal security creates a sense of tension. The images that I source evoke this tension through their latent eroticism and expressions of suffering. 

The figures in my work are defined by the negative shapes of color produced through compositional framing, which allude to the ways in which our conceptions and performance of gender are similarly relational and defined by their surrounding context. I lean into contradiction by employing both faithful representation and abstraction. Careful rendering perpetuates my desire, while the use of cropping, flatness, and lurid color act as a means of intervention. Through this practice I begin to make sense of my relationship to masculinity, sense of self, and feelings of shame.