BARBERINI or Totes Masc for Samesies
Paul Anagnostopoulos
Todd Durm
Matthew Capaldo
Carl Gunhouse
Dylan Hurwitz
Oliver Jones
John Kramer
Rebecca Levi
Daniel Morowitz
Mavi Phillips
Kristen Racaniello
Paul Rizzo
Alexandra Rubinstein
Dustin Yager
Guest Curated by Enrico Gomez
July 22 to August 26, 2018
Opening Reception, Sunday July 22, 3:00 to 6:00 PM
Taking its name from the Barberini Faun, a masterpiece of Hellenistic Greek sculpture, this group exhibition takes the primary attributes of this artwork as its organizing principles. The overt sensual nature of the Barberini Faun was in keeping with the general qualities of Hellenistic visual culture, which included corporeal eroticism, passionate expressiveness, and high visual drama. Said to be companions of the God Dionysus, fauns or satyrs, represented, among other things, a lustful nature, a feral and uncivilized disposition, as well as being an iconographic representation for male homosexuality.
While BARBERINI or Totes Masc for Samesies, certainly includes representations of what could be called the “gay gaze” toward the contemporary male nude, the show is by no means exclusive to this, considering, rather, a wide spectrum of “beholder” including artists from within the LGBTQ+ community and beyond. The secondary title Totes Masc for Samesies serves as a whimsical critique and light-hearted deprecation of “hook-up” app banter (re: Masc for Masc and “straight acting seeks same”) regarding sexual preferences and the notions of “masculine” expression.
