Installation shot of 'He Opened Up Somewhere Along the Eastern Shore' at +Kris Graves Projects Brooklyn, NY.

You have a two-person show, “WAIT ‘TIL YOUR FATHER COMES HOME,” opening on Saturday, September 17 at the Lorrie Saunders ArtGallery, which explores “the normative ideal of American masculinity.” Can you tell us a little bit more about the theme and content of this show, and how your work interacts with that of fellow artist Nathan Vincent?

Nathan and I have been talking about doing a show together for years and finally our schedules aligned and we found a supportive and open space (thanks Lorrie!) to explore the common trends in our work. The conceptual part of the project was kickstarted back in January when I found myself looking for a book to read on a drizzly afternoon in Seattle, Washington. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love, by Bell Hooks, caught my eye and after a few pages I had a feeling it might even change my life. (Excuse the dip into hyperbole.) About halfway through, I ordered a copy for Nathan. He, too, had a visceral response to the content and we decided that it would be the loose base for our show.

“WAIT ‘TIL YOUR FATHER COMES HOME” idiosyncratically meanders around some of the ideas Hooks presented in her book. I think it’s safe to say that we are both interested in the way our society builds men, how we allow them to perform masculinity and how we reprimand them when they fall out of line.

Rather than setting up the show as a “here is Nathan’s take on the idea and here is Jason’s,” our works co-mingle, complicate, and compliment each other throughout the exhibition. Neither of us believe it is our job to answer how men should act or perform, rather, we are both interested in asking questions of “what if?” or “why not?”

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