Xtra!
Number 571, Sep 14, 2006
Luscious Man Art
That pulls its punches
Sometimes there is comfort in the familiar, while other times it just feels
familiar. Patrick DeCoste's new body of work, Below The Belt, is filled with
gay tropes: wrestling, dandies, patterning and shiny male torsos in some combination
or other. Most people understand wrestling is erotic and that gay art and male
nudity were meant for each other, but that doesn¹t make these ideas challenging.
If you like your art to be fierce you might want to sit this one out. But if
you like shiny, luscious man art this is definitely your deal. Below The Belt
is a collection of richly textured and heavily varnished acrylic paintings on
upholstery fabric.
Below The Belt is inspired by Montreal-based poet Ann Carson's Men In The Off
Hours. Carson's book is described by Salon.com as a picnic of sex and love and
death, which pretty much sums up Below The Belt, too. Though the work is definitely
on the male side of things, it is not necessarily an exploration of masculinity,
but rather a running commentary on the idea or perception of masculinity. In
Boxers, for example, two handsome men in boxing attire face one another, but
that¹s as far as their competition and aggression go. Their faces are relaxed,
and their distance from one another
makes them seem posed rather than punchy. Reminiscent of Physique Pictorial
photos, everyone knows they aren't really boxers, but it's a good excuse to
look at shirtless guys.
As a way of emphasizing the Boxers aesthetic value, DeCoste has painted them
on upholstery fabric. The men alternate between standing in front of what appears
to be wallpaper, to having their nether regions highlighted by
the patterning. The wallpaper effect also places the men in a domestic setting
rather than a boxing ring. The intimacy of the private space the men occupy
is contrasted by their stilted pose.
This selection of paintings alternates between more polished, refined works
such as Boxers and works such as Soccer Players which have been left as underpaintings.
While both styles of work have their own merits, the underpainted pieces seem
to be a departure from DeCoste's previous, more painstakingly crafted work.
During my visit to the gallery someone wondered aloud whether or not the works
have actually been finished or if the exhibition crept up a little too quickly
for the artist. The walls will never tell.
One of the less explicit themes in Below The Belt is the idea of space. Its
exploration, both physically and ideologically, runs throughout the exhibit.
At close range some of the underpainted works don't look like much of anything,
but as the viewer backs up, an image becomes more recognizable. Within the paintings
themselves, there is another exploration of space, of the intimacy and distance
between men and how that plays out in relationships.
This exhibition also contains a few older pieces from previous series: Portrait
Of The Artist As A Dead Man and Silenus In Furs. The works are beautifully done,
but seem a bit incongruous when compared directly against the newer work.
With the onset of fall DeCoste's colour palette seems particularly timely. He
paints in all the shades of brown with some green here and there for good
measure. As the weather changes, and shirtless men become more and more rare
on the street, we can be thankful that at least one gallery will give us a bit
of a tease.
Patrick DeCoste's Below The Belt
continues till Sun, Sep 24 at Spin
1100 Queen St W, second floor
The gallery is open from noon to 6pm Wednesday to Saturday, and noon to 5pm
on Sunday
call (416) 530-7656.