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John Wayne is Gay
Introduction/statement
John Wayne is the emotional icon of America. He represents the strength, honor and way of the American male and way of living. America seen as an artificial concept built on the idea of one big family headed by the iconic John Wayne. He represents the strong, manly, hard working republican spirit of the white American male who loves America, the big family. He represents the American male or has an immense influence on the construction of the male gender of Americans which we consume via the media, the male character we subconsously identify ourselves with. His influence might not be obvious at first sight but is deeply rooted in the minds and hearts of people.
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(160cm x 100 cm, acrylic on printed canvas, computer collage, still in progress)
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John Wayne starred in many films that built contemporary America and formed the American character fostering soldiers for political and financial wars, giving birth to men and women who blindly absorb ideas of fear causing mass paranoia, forgiving past mistakes with great ease because America is one big family. I see the iconic John Wayne however as an illusion, a lie created by the American government and propaganda machinery. He was in fact a man of fear, never been to war and famous for his racism. He is the very element that America is not supposed to be built on. The iconic John Wayne however is the contradiction.
John Wayne is Gay seeks to unveil the artificial construction of the American male gender (and subsequently the rest of the world that consumes American culture) and its psyche by transforming the heterosexual nature of the American male (John Wayne) into a stereotypical homosexual male, into its opposite.
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John Wayne - Kiss, kiss
John Wayne is Gay - Kiss, kiss is an interventive piece of work using a slightly re-vamped life-sized cut out stand-up of John Wayne wearing lipstick and a pink hat. It can stand alone but also be attached onto a wall.
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