STATEMENT

My work is concerned with masculinity—or, more precisely, with the experience of being a man. I am interested in the space that exists between the hypersexualisation often associated with gay male culture and the emotional distance that can characterise conventional forms of heterosexual male camaraderie.

The male body remains central to my work. I approach it through the lens of the classical canon, not simply as an object of beauty, but as a means of exploring intimacy, vulnerability and emotional connection. My work looks at the ways in which men can relate to one another through closeness, trust, tenderness and a sense of mutual security.

These relationships may inhabit a space of homoaffectivity, non-sexual homoeroticism, fraternal tenderness, or simply a form of intimacy that is not necessarily defined by sexual desire. I am interested in moments of physical and emotional proximity that allow masculinity to be experienced outside the familiar codes of either sexualisation or detached male bonding.

This enquiry is not only artistic. It is also an attempt to open up a broader conversation about the ways in which men can encounter one another with intimacy and affection, in spaces that lie beyond both sex and superficial camaraderie.