Christopher Clary - Kevin, my obsession

Christopher Clary - Kevin, my obsession
  • Title: Kevin, my obsession
  • Dimensions: 700 square feet
  • Materials: 12 paintings
  • Primary Medium: C-prints on canvas
  • Year Created: 2011
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Artwork Description


There are men in my porn collection that consume me and Kevin has been an obsession for years. The photographs themselves aren’t particularly hard-core but he taps into a raw masculinity that most people find repugnant. A collector at the Rencontres went as far to say “violent”. Why this is is only partly the image because the art is how I use my computer desktop. JPG previews enlarged 3,000 times, printed and stretched on solid, wood panels then stacked against the walls. This installation was commissioned for the Discovery Award at the 2011 Rencontres d'Arles in France. The curator Chris Boot, Executive Director of Aperture Foundation, was allowed to reshuffle the "paintings" anytime during the exhibition.

Christopher Clary

Christopher Clary

I use photography to realize my fantasies. Starting with my porn collection I make wallpaper to see every guy I’ve ever downloaded off the Internet. Then things get palatable when obsessing over monumental JPGs and dirty mattresses. Collecting, compiling, de-contextualizing and re-contextualizing is practice for the real thing when I confront these men face-to-face in front of my camera. The images may be exhibitionist but my art quietly shows me to be one of thousands, possibly millions of men online and in print, searching for our social and sexual selves under the weight of photography and pornography. Christopher Clary was nominated for the 2011 Discovery Award at Les Rencontres d’Arles, France. In 2009 his was featured at the NY Photo Festival pavilion Gay Men Play. Other seminal homocentric exhibitions include Homomuseum at Exit Art and Body Commodities at WORKS/San Jose. Major shows for ABC No Rio, Cuchifritos, Exit Art, Momenta Art, New York State Biennial, Rush Arts and SCOPENY. Reviews in the New York Times, Village Voice, HX, Out, Photo District News, Photographie and NY1. Residencies at Artist Alliance Inc. and Exit Art. Clary received an MFA from American University and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Website: christopherclary.com

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2 reviews

  • Christopher Clary
    Sunday, 20 November 2011 16:06 | posted by Christopher Clary

    Thanks Erin for your comment. Repetition is part of the point. The way we consume pictures particularly in regards to pornography and/or finding a mate verges on obsession. Not that that's a bad thing. As you point out I'm very interested in seeing the beauty is all this looking. Per "creation", being a man and attracted to men I'm only privy to one side of the equation. But I believe that allows me to access masculinity without the need for balance.

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  • Erin Kathryn Carmody
    Wednesday, 09 November 2011 22:31 | posted by Erin Kathryn Carmody

    Male nudity is welcome and important for people to see. Though, your picture makes it seem repetitive. Well, I guess it's beautiful what you've done. Male nudity is particulary beautiful. By beautiful I mean reflecting the beauty of one side of the equation of creation.

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