Matthew Cherry
RAD – (busts) dudes with beards who sign on and grow a beard for 4-6 months and then modify their beard in various styles. These hang in groupings or grids of 4.
The act of modifying one’s face to meet a standard of appropriateness by shaving is not so different than other forms of body
modification...it is just one that majority has adopted as professional, aesthetically pleasing and/or appropriate. Throughout history men with facial hair have been ascribed attributes with polar opposite distinctions; on one hand being wise, virile, masculine, holy and on the other; wild, untamed, dirty, of ill repute, or a part of a sub-culture and/or radical intent. It is the very notion of what is defined as being “radical” that intrigues me. On one side you have men in radically conservative and/or religious cultures such as; Amish, Mennonite, Hassidic Judaism, Islamic Muslim, and Sikhs who grow beards as signs of holiness and reverence. On the opposite side of the spectrum you have men in subculture contexts like; bikers, hipsters, rockers, hippies, bears, tree huggers, people of the streets and even
academics. Whether conservative or liberal, both sit on opposite sides of males representing the “mainstream” e.g. from doctors to lawyers or bankers to Mormon Missionaries. The Corporate America “clean” cut look has been adopted as what is becoming, professional, and aesthetically appropriate. For this reason I have become intrigued by those who sport a beard for my series RAD (short for radical).
Dan (grid) RAD series 36" x 36" each oil on canvas
someBODIES – ¾ to full body frontal nudes depicting random people in titan-sized portraits. Decisions of size, scale, vantage point, and positions are the result of my need to depict random people in a way that celebrates yet confronts, that is matter of fact yet greater than or celebratory of, that shouts out and validates what is so unique about each of us, yet so universally shared by all of us. They challenge the notion that what is ideal and/or beautiful is not what Hollywood or magazines shove down our throats (or what we buy into)…but rather what nature and life provide. They are not nudes for the
voyeur...yet admittedly acknowledge the fact that they have subjected themselves to be looked at. The nudes that I create challenge the viewer. They do not wait for the chance of a second glance seen discreetly from the side of one’s glasses. They stand face forward confronting the viewer soliciting more than a casual gaze. They are positioned in a stance that make the viewer the object scrutinized. They stand blatantly aware, amassed together and force the audience to look within while looking at someBODIES.
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