Come to the opening reception for Jeanette May’s ”Bachelor Pads!”
Bachelors will be present and refreshments will be served!
The exhibition will be on view from February 1-25, 2012.
Inspired by 1960s movies and magazine spreads highlighting the phenomenon of the “bachelor pad,” Jeanette May stages the contemporary bachelor in his metropolitan dwelling. The original bachelor pads were conspicuously heterosexual and masculine in design—filled with the latest gadgets and signifiers of hedonistic pleasure. Mayʼs photographs examine whether the current version evolved or if the reel-to-reel sound systems were merely swapped for iPod stations and large screen TVs. The pad may define oneʼs economic or cultural standing, provide refuge, or seduce potential lovers. Mayʼs images raise these issues while offering a voyeuristic peek into the private living space of single men.
Bachelor Pads furthers Mayʼs investigation into the representation of desirable men and the development of the “female gaze” in contemporary visual cultural. In this recent project, she concentrates on bachelors: unmarried men who do not live with their parents, spouses, or lovers. Her bachelors identify as straight or gay, live alone or with roommates, and cover a range of ages and socio-economic groups. May poses the men in a formal manner; their gaze is never toward the camera, but they seem self-consciously aware of an audience. She produces photographs located somewhere between portraiture and documentary, that allow women (and men) to stare unabashedly at attractive bachelors and then visually rifle through their belongings. May presents her archival pigment prints in a scale that enables us to read the spines of books on the shelves or covet a particularly desirable apartment. What do we learn about these specific bachelors, how do men present themselves to the
camera, and does the female viewer take pleasure in the sight?
Jeanette May is a photographer using a critical, sometimes playful, approach to investigate representation itself.
May earned her MFA in Photography from CalArts and her BFA in Painting from the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign. She has been awarded grants and fellowships from the NEA Regional Artistsʼ Projects Fund, Illinois Arts Council, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and Ms. Foundation. Her work is exhibited in galleries and
museums internationally, including New York; Chicago; Los Angeles; Toronto, Canada; Sandviken, Sweden; and Athens, Greece. May lives in Brooklyn, NY.