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Opening Reception: Male Gazing @ JOG
When:
September 14th
at 6-9PM
Where:
James Oliver Gallery
723 Chestnut Street, Floor 2
Price:
FREE
EVENT DETAILS
James Oliver Gallery in Philadelphia welcomes you to the Opening Reception of Male Gazing, a solo-exhibition featuring Matthew Borgen. This body of work appropriates and recontextualizes images from 20th century comic books – in particular depictions of outmoded male stereotypes – in order to take a critical, sardonic look at the emotional and psychological underpinnings of toxic masculinity and white supremacy in our current cultural landscape.
The images focus on cisgender, hetero, white men displaying fear, anxiety, insecurity, desperation, sadness, resentment, and rage. These intense emotional states are tempered by humor and satire, using a familiar, cartoon aesthetic – typically thought of as harmless. (Those familiar with the work of Honore Daumier, Thomas Nast, or Matt Groening will recognize the strategy.)
The resulting psychological distance provides an opportunity for the viewer to consider how these feelings can devolve into misogyny, racism, homophobia, jingoism, or a general distrust of the “other” without automatically invalidating the initial emotions themselves or the real world circumstances that elicited them.
