CASUAL ENCOUNTERS in collaboration with Lenore Thomas
ARTIST STATEMENT
Casual Encounters is a deconstruction of the common "dick pic." This series of images is a reaction to the idiosyncrasies of this new photographic archetype. Casual Encounters calls attention to the immediacy, the casualness, the sometimes aggressive and, other times, humorous, depictions of this now ubiquitous image. Another form of the “selfie,” this picture is generally photographed in private spaces, like bathrooms or bedrooms, with a mobile device, but posted online in a public realm. Technology has created an ease for this new type of image to emerge and replicate instantaneously. Smart phones (the means by which most dick pics are taken) now act as cameras, conversing through images, as much, if not more than, conversing through talk or worded text. Ironically, however, little attention is given to the image itself; the photograph merely serving as a device to represent the penis. All photographs in this series are recreations of images taken from the "Casual Encounters: m4w" section of Craigslist. They maintain the basic setting and posture of the original but contradict their source in both the means of creation (high resolution camera versus phone camera, multiple people present during capture versus self captured image) and the subject (female versus male, object versus penis).
INSTALLATION
@ A.I.R. (Artist Image Resource), Pittsburgh, PA, May 2016
SKATEBOARD
Slapstik Skateboards, Release Date: July 1, 2017
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