An Androgynous Sunday Afternoon.

So recently I feel like I've been seeing androgyny everywhere. And, granted, it's a human trait that's existed for, what I'm sure is, the duration of our species' existence, but it's something that I just seem to be keying into more lately. Especially with performers like La Roux and Janelle Monae putting the feminine/masculine edge on things (obviously this has been done before, i.e. David Bowie, Michael Jackson, ect). Style really has taken a dip back to the 80s (women in power-suits and shoulder pads...never thought I'd like it). But, frankly, there is something really appealing-not to mention powerful- in the whole look.

Maybe it's attractive in the way it averages out sexuality into one entity, the same way we find symmetry and averaged features beautiful on people (note, I'm referencing some study I read about a while back where they took a ton of human faces and averaged them out with a computer to get a really "perfect" and attractive person).

Either way, that, combined with my recent thought that I should work on putting a few more men in my painting subject-matter, lead me to this piece. And I'd like to think it's fairly successful. I've also been playing with trying to get more background in my work, as it can feel a bit shallow sometimes, so that's where the lines come in. I think my favorite bit, though, is the colorful collar he's got going on. :)

-G