CARNIS-VACANCY

MARTIN SWIFT CARNIS



CARNIS



Statement:

My work explores the nuances of masculinity in America.
Due to unhealthy societal pressure to exhibit traditionally
masculine traits like aggression, strength, dominance, courage,
and honor males in the United States not only objectify other
genders, but themselves as well. This creates something that I
refer to as the Paradox of Manliness.
Objectification is presented in a range of symptoms.
From body image issues and eating disorders to unhealthy
competition, harassment, and violence. Pressures to adhere to
a specific physical and intellectual aesthetic leave men feeling
inadequate. The expectation that men confront the world
impulsively and aggressively contributes to a cultural rejection
of male empathy and compassion. My work depicts a spectrum
of masculinity and emotional transparency. The paintings
celebrate flesh, body modification, stretchmarks, and scars.
My work is a direct response to this Paradox, an
acknowledgment of what lies beyond manliness.
Carnis is a collection of pieces that represent the evolution
of this series.

CARNIS, W. Dale Brougher Foundation Exhibit Hall, Marketview Arts, 2017

Origin:

When I was 12 or 13, my father came out to our family and
close friends. I’m not sure the accuracy of this memory, but
after he sat my twin sister and I down to explain this very
serious and personal discovery, I recall saying something like
“Huh. That makes sense”. I was not reacting to his behavior
or sensibility, nor was it a dismissive statement. In retrospect,
I believe that I was attempting to acknowledge the unique
perspective on masculinity afforded me up to that point. My
folks have remained happily together and I now credit him as
my first muse.

After leaving home, I realized that my perspective on gender
was in such drastic contrast to the national account that I
struggled to relate to many of my peers. When it dawned on
me that I was the outsider, I began using my work to explore
how my closest friends and acquaintances viewed themselves
as men.

Masculinity is not something that I seek to “figure out”, nor is it
something I intend to criticize in others.

These paintings were intended to be subjectively interpreted.
For the purpose of this is publication, I have included a few
brief personal narratives to provide a base context for the work.

Martin Swift

Tyler
48” X 84”
oil on canvas
2012

Work:

Tyler is one of my oldest friends and I have watched him move
through life with exhausting bombast. For many years we were
inseparable, yet I was always in awe and slightly intimidated by
the energy he reserved for each of his countless acquaintances.
He could build a community of friends on nothing more than
his charm and sense of humor. He was the life of the party.
A relentless prankster whose light could never dim.

A year or two before I began this body of work, I was unsettled
when I learned that it had all been an act to insulate himself
from his own social anxiety. When I think about my fondest
memories of our friendship they always seemed to take place
in the space between scenes. Moments just before coming to
rest. They were brief and wonderfully vulnerable respites when
we were both simply there. Seeking this precious space has
become the compositional foundation of this body of work.

This piece is my first figurative painting the seed from which
this series grows. Tyler has since found that social anxiety is
on par for most young men and what was once an act has
bloomed into a genuine and wonderful personality. I am
eagerly looking forward to working with him again.

Tyler (Detail)
48” X 84”
oil on canvas
2012

Luca
48” X 84”
oil on canvas
2012

Oscar
48” X 84”
oil on canvas
2013

Oscar is perhaps the most self aware of my muses. He was a
graduate student while I attended Carnegie Mellon for my
undergrad and we quickly bonded over a need to analyze
masculinity through our respective practices. I was intrigued by
his complete lack of subtlety. His art explores the unfettered
chaos of boys at play. The first piece of his I remember seeing
was five foot T shaped vertical pole protruding from the
mechanism from a repurposed “kiddyride” and equipped with
a counter weighted chainsaw at its apex. The viewer was meant
to bend down and press a button at the base of the structure,
at which point the chainsaw would turn on and cheekily begin
flailing about.

Immediately upon moving from Holland to Pittsburgh for
school, he became obsessed with rural, working class American
culture. He bought a pickup truck in order to affix a pair of
bullhorns to the grill. He got a couple guns, fell in love with
bowling, and attended demolition derbies with no hint of irony.
To the uninitiated he was a six foot four inch, gruff, smelly,
slab of american meat, but out of costume he was a tender
and altruistic Dutch boy who wore sweaters embroidered with
reindeer. This display was not merely a performance, but his
way of learning and exploring this strange and enigmatic culture
of ours. It was this ernest duality that intrigued me more than
anything.

He was simply playing a part, but he certainly found his
“holy trinity of American masculinity; bowling, balls, and
blowing smoke”.

Oscar (Detail)
48” X 84”
oil on canvas
2013

Josh
48” X 84”
oil on canvas
2013 - 2017

Dave
48” X 84”
oil on canvas
2013 - 2017

Alex
30” X 28.5”
oil on linen
2017

Will
48” X 60”
oil on canvas
2014

Will and I became close in high school. From the beginning
of our relationship he was something of an enigma to me. His
folks, who expressed little interest in him, were both remarried
and he had been ejected from several schools including a
military reform academy. He displayed the typical bellicose
affect of a dissociated young man. We met in gym class and the
cornerstone of our relationship was mutual curiosity as we both
attempted to navigate a rather toxic and competitive masculine
environment. It took several years for me to realize that he was
the first person I had ever met whose aspect was cemented in
the conviction that he was truly unwanted.

Like so many, his misanthropic behavior was merely a shield
that I was fortunate enough to see him dismantle through
the subsequent years. Will’s grace is still fleeting, but his
indifference is now strictly academic.

Will (Detail)
48” X 60”
oil on canvas
2014

Billy
30” X 42”
oil on canvas
2014

John
30” X 48”
oil on linen
2014

John
10” X 20”
oil on linen
2017

Sheldon
30” X 36”
oil on linen
2014

Sheldon
24” X 24”
oil on canvas
2017  

Rory
16” X 16”
oil on canvas
2017

Rory is by no means one of my oldest friends, but I have
witnessed him change more profoundly in a few short years
than most of the friends I have known over my lifetime. During
the period of time I have been working with Rory he got
engaged, married, and became a father. Watching someone
closely as they fundamentally alter their priorities is both
inspiring and intimidating. Overlooking a few tattoos there
was no physical evolution, but he underwent a painfully subtle
temperamental transformation. Most artists admit that their
work is inherently autobiographical. We use the self as a vessel
with which to explore the world around us. Attempting to
contextualize Rorie’s metamorphosis through my work has been
deeply moving. Trying to paint a friend whose base identity
acutely shifts every month or so is maddening.

Rory Study 1
10” X 10”
oil on linen
2016

Rory Study 2
10” X 10”
oil on linen
2016

Rory
48” X 60”
oil on canvas
2017

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Cal Rodgers
10” X 8”
ink on board
2017

Pauper
9” X 5”
ink on paper
2016

Black Shadow
8” X 10”
ink on board
2015

Lunch Time
9” X 12”
oil on canvas
2015

Butterfly
5” X 7”
ink on board
2015

Footwork
14” X 11”
ink on board
2015

Lunge
14” X 11”
ink on board
2015

Cassius
8” X 10”
ink on board
2015

Tombeau
19” X 17”
oil on linen
2014

Bad Brother
8” X 7.5”
ink on board
2014

Ol’ Pat
5” X 7”
ink on board
2013

Bellum Sacrum
24” X 18”
oil on linen
2013

Bessie Stringfield
5” X 7”
ink on board
2013

Decay
8.5” X 11”
ink on paper
2013

Robbie and Pat
12” X 12”
oil on canvas
2013

Wagah
14” X 11”
ink on paper
2012

Statement:

As with the accompanying work that explores masculinity and
identity, the origins of this series stem from my upbringing.
I grew up in a household without television. My twin sister and
I were blessed with one of the last truly unplugged childhoods.
Our youthful curiosity was satisfied by what lay immediately
outside our front door. As a result I was hopelessly ill equipped
to perform in a world ruled by popular culture and nationalized
social agenda. When I entered my early teens, the minutiae and
nuance of my outlook was confronted by a blunt need to recall
names and events utterly foreign and hopelessly mundane.
I was unimpressed by this clarion call to conformity and
resisted its influence until it occurred to me that what repulsed
me was not the substance of our culture, but my utter lack
of objective context. My most formative years were not tied
to any specific cross section of media, thus freeing me to
explore where it all came from. I have become an obnoxiously
specific yet laboriously entropic anthropologist of sorts. The
work presented in Vacancy is a sample of my investigations of
gender, sexuality, childhood uncertainty, science fiction, history,
and pop culture.

Robbie and Pat (Detail)
12” X 12”
oil on canvas
2013

VACANCY