Signifiers for a Male Response, 2026
chanille, denim, mesh tank top, key ring, wood post, T4T frottage photo, kite string, bench, mop heads, collars, terry cloth, frame
Signifiers for a Male Response is a body of work that emerged in gay semiotic glory in tandem with an avalanche of anti-trans, anti-gay, anti-sex violence. I am inspired by faggots who produce art, have sex, and await the next revolution, as Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta espoused in 1977 in The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions. This body of work includes Faggots Like Me, a T4T frottage photograph floating in a kite of mesh and denim, and Faggots Like Freddie, a chenille bedspread sporting a flayed mesh tank top and sweatpants material sprung over an erect stand. After making these two sculptures, I revisited Hal Fischer’s Gay Semiotics series (also from 1977) and realized that together my pieces perfectly match Fischer’s photograph of blue and red handkerchief butts, informing the title Signifiers for a Male Response for when the works are shown together.
Included in this series are works inspired by gay beaches whose seed was planted at Riis Beach watching a merqueer performing for hours in the ocean. This includes the fabric painting Collars and Cuffs as well as scuptures Fucking Faggots, YooHoo, and Gay Beach, integrating towels, found wood, and a bucket. Pictures forthcoming.
Thanks to MASSMoCA for the residency time and space to help conceive of the gay beach aspect of this series.
Photos by Rik Sferra, and Emmett Ramstad
Signifiers for a Male Response is a body of work that emerged in gay semiotic glory in tandem with an avalanche of anti-trans, anti-gay, anti-sex violence. I am inspired by faggots who produce art, have sex, and await the next revolution, as Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta espoused in 1977 in The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions. This body of work includes Faggots Like Me, a T4T frottage photograph floating in a kite of mesh and denim, and Faggots Like Freddie, a chenille bedspread sporting a flayed mesh tank top and sweatpants material sprung over an erect stand. After making these two sculptures, I revisited Hal Fischer’s Gay Semiotics series (also from 1977) and realized that together my pieces perfectly match Fischer’s photograph of blue and red handkerchief butts, informing the title Signifiers for a Male Response for when the works are shown together.
Included in this series are works inspired by gay beaches whose seed was planted at Riis Beach watching a merqueer performing for hours in the ocean. This includes the fabric painting Collars and Cuffs as well as scuptures Fucking Faggots, YooHoo, and Gay Beach, integrating towels, found wood, and a bucket. Pictures forthcoming.
Thanks to MASSMoCA for the residency time and space to help conceive of the gay beach aspect of this series.
Photos by Rik Sferra, and Emmett Ramstad