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James Jirat Patradoon, She was a spy, 2006
James Jirat Patradoon
I create self-portraits where I depict myself as a hyper-masculine superhero alter-ego. By using the context of superhero comics, I explore fantasies of violence and at the same time ground it in adolescent fantasy. These are over the top images of violence, aggression and bravado –snapshots of the macho ideal. However, it is the exaggerated aspects of these images – the masks, the colours, the poses – that reveal and draw attention to their ‘staged’ nature. These aren’t real men at all; these are just boys in masks playing pretend.
Archetypes of the superhero portray such an exaggerated brand of masculinity that their male identity becomes a performance, or indeed a secondary identity. It seems like it takes two men to be a ‘real man’. I am concerned with the notion of multiple personalities and what it implies about the attainability of masculine ideals. In other words, can we be ourselves and ‘real men’ at the same time? How much of it needs to be ‘put on’?
James Jirat Patradoon 2006
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http://www.jiratpatradoon.com/
Image © James Jirat Patradoon and Match Box Projects
