Date of Graduation

5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts in Art (MFA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Art

Advisor/Mentor

Callander, Neil E.

Committee Member

King, Sam

Second Committee Member

Taoka, Loring

Third Committee Member

Young, Rana

Keywords

BDSM; David Cronenberg; eroticism; painting; queer art; sexuality

Abstract

There are ghosts in the machine is a body of paintings that dare to dissolve the boundaries between my physical body, intimate desires, and paintings. Utilizing the aesthetics of leather lifestyles, the paintings express the transformational potential of desire and transgression. Oriented within my experience as a queer, transgender male, I call upon influences that range from the body horror classics by director David Cronenberg or the transgressive attitude of Nine Inch Nails, to theoretical works on the power of eroticism by Audre Lorde and Georges Bataille.Modified by hardware such as chains, zippers, and grommets, the paintings express the transformational potential of material embodiment. The materiality and physicality of paint are emphasized within the work to provoke a proprioceptive experience within the viewer. As objects of radical difference, they conflate desire, the body, performance, and identity.

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