I have always loved the question, what is art? To me, art is something which encourages you to look not just with the eye, but with the mind, something which perhaps challenges you beliefs, perceptions, vision itself and the idea of your current surroundings.
A topic of art which always seems to interest me is how gender is placed. Gender is inevitably the roots of sexist jibes, some political disputes and mannerisms of people in everyday life. We don't have the power to delete or ignore gender, but we do have the ability to question its importance to the modern day person and their way of life. If you take current working situations that have been publicised in the news over and over again, most men are paid around 20% more in the same job as women. This has been the case for many years, yet we still choose to keep the situation the same, thus creating an even bigger divide on the pointless line of gender difference.
A magazine I like to buy frequently for my own interest and collections of menswear images is 'Man About Town' magazine. Most issues keep to one set theme, a man and his dog for instance, or the current, and perhaps more relevant issue, the gay and gender issue.
It amazes me in it that nothing is placed and shot in too extreme situations, men arent overly made-up in fancy dresses with a Grayson Perry esque vibe, yet it hints at how the modern man is becoming exactly that, modern.
Self-portrait with Fried Eggs 1996
I love this portrait of the artist Sarah Lucas I witnessed at the Saatchi Gallery a couple of years ago. I del like my own perception of the piece is quite similar to how she would of liked it to be portrayed. The 'tongue-in-cheek' image of Lucas sat loosely in a masculine pose on a workout chair in clothing that wouldn't look out of place on a man itself, with her hair pinned back to create an all round more 'boyish' hairstyle. Lucas suggests all that is missing from the picture to make it seem like she is a man would be the fact to remove her breasts and makes it clear they are there by adding the two fried eggs, this almost sees the breast as inanimate objects with comedic value, All round agreeing with my idea that gender is not as serious an issue as we all like to let it be.
The gender bender by Kirkwood
Tongue and Groove, Always Goes Down Well 2000 Chair, vest, pants and meat by Sarah Lucas
Cindy Sherman's portraits of a 'woman' were always an inspiration to me, especially when I used to do fine art portraiture and painting myself. Her photography really looks at the gritty underlying factors in the characters themselves creating great personalities of individuality, yet strong in their own rights. I love these images and her work as I see my menswear 'man' holding his own unique fearless personality who fully embraces who he is and how he wants to be.
Highly acclaimed menswear and womenswear model Willy Cartier is a frontrunner in the fashion industry for his homogenous looks with a carefree gender attitude yet strong masculinity. His recent photoshoots see him dressed in womens clothing and make up, proving that there is still a lot of man to be in a woman.
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