GENDER FOOLS

GENDER FOOLS was a solo exhibition I created my senior year of college - December 2018, specifically - that was shown at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art. I created six clowns - Daniel, Terry, Donovan, Beverly, Logan, and Sophia.

“GENDER FOOLS: Gender is performance, and we are all complacent in participating in all of its complications; each and every one of us puts on our own gender “mask,” and anxiously await how the world around us perceives us. We often become fools in gender, losing ourselves in the facade, and so clowns are a fitting metaphor for the performance of gender expectations. It is also noteworthy that gender and clowns are both constructed in an oddly-binary manner; gender is broken down into the male versus female dichotomy, and clowns are seen as either figures of delight or terror. There is a polarization present in both that inspires comparisons between the two. Each clown is presented as only a disembodied head to reflect the dehumanization that occurs in the popular perceptions of gender presentation; when we are surveying those around us, we often break people down to their outward expression, making binary assumptions about their identity based upon superficial appearances. We become diminished to this grossly-inaccurate simplicity, and lose our autonomy in defining who we are through this process of external judgment. Each clown was given a name that was been randomly assigned to the painting upon its completion - this was done to further emphasize the concept that gender identity and presentation do not need to exist in congruity, and to challenge the relationship between outward performance of gender and the assumed gender of names (which too serve as a symbol for the self.)”

Press about Gender Fools can be found here.