Late last year I was honored by being selected by Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco to be their first Artist-in-Residence. This is a new program involving an intensive three month project period, which culminated in a show at the gallery in April. Click here for installation photographs.

Statement
My recent direction finds me making portraits of men; more specifically, men with hairy faces. My goal isn't so much to catalogue facial hair, but instead it is to uncover some of what it is to be male, where the beard or moustache is used as a neutral labeling device for identifying and connecting the male of the species. Using the studio during Rayko's three month Artist-in-Residence program has allowed me to continue and progress my visual thinking on this subject, pursuing two very different ideas. In both series I sought to make portraits that eschew sociotypical projections of 'masculinity' such as 'courage', 'bravery', and 'assertiveness', and instead reflect sensitivity, tenderness, and vulnerability.

Pogonophora [the beard bearers]
While a borrowed term, Pogonophora has the literal meaning 'beard bearer' which encapsulates the notion that these men are carrying or holding a beard rather than being defined by it. In these images I was looking for a feeling of the reflective, classical, even 'monastic' quality seen in renaissance period portrait painting. Working with a large format camera in the studio also became key to this vision as the slow, deliberate process helped promote an intimacy with the subject and their expression.

Men as Botanicals
Inspired by the work of Karl Blossfeldt, this series of nudes seeks to depict the male body as an organic plant-like form, twisting and furling, but isolated on a white field like a scientific specimen. As with nature, each of the models provide differing interpretations as their body shapes, decoration and gestures suggest delicate individuality.