As gay men immersed in male body culture, we became fascinated by the dominance of the two principle male assets:  The face and junk.   

 

Offered the image of a naked man, any viewer, be they gay, straight or female automatically flick their eyes to these parts first.    We may pretend we don’t.   But we do.

 

So what happens when you present the viewer with a male nude with these assets removed?    This is exactly what we have been doing (144 times!) in Gross Indecency:  Asset Stripped.   

 

This features 144 (a gross) images of male torsos - all of them with their heads out of shot and its their groins covered by glass mosaics I made up featuring the genitalia of Greco-Roman statues.

 

The effect is we are drawn instead to the myriad array of male physiques.   This was again important to us as gay men as we have constantly been told that we are all pumped up, buff and plucked gods of perfection.  

 

Well own a gym and can tell you this damaging, demoralising belief is a complete lie.   Gay men, like all men, come in all shapes and sizes.    And when we have a chance to look at these variants of body type without the distraction of face and penis, we begin to see a beauty in every single one.

 

Or at least we do.  

 

Although for the purposes of this website you will see all 144 images, the piece is actually designed as a 1.4m x 1m frame featuring 12 digital frames rotating an every changing line up of torsos.   The result is both overpowering and mesmerising.