Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

5-2017

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Fine Arts

Degree Program

Art (Creative) and Art History

Committee Chair

Grubola, James

Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)

Chan, Ying Kit

Committee Member

Chan, Ying Kit

Committee Member

Northerner, Sara

Author's Keywords

fetish; masculinity; abject; culture; verisimilitude; art

Abstract

Verisimilitude, or the appearance of being true, is a concept I turn upside down; relating it to a guise I wear as a contemporary male in a society dictated by learned social behavior and gender norms. Cultural iconography and expected gender norms are tropes I confront within my artwork. Drawings of seemingly everyday objects act as meditations or a fetishized repetition of supposed unobtainable objects and ideals that deal with masculine societal norms. Manliness, machismo, masculinity… it is all a culturally learned and expected pose placed on all men. Coming to the realization that I do not necessarily fit into the mold of these cultural norms is an abrupt realization that brought out an intense realization of self. Since I am not all man, I am left yearning to fit in and be what is expected of me, but that would only be the appearance of the truth.

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