Men Untitled

TBW Books 很高興能夠出版 Carolyn Drake 的新作 《Men Untitled》，這是一系列攝影作品，探討她與美國文化中陽剛神話的關係。

在《Knit Club》（2012–2020）——一部關於密西西比州鄉村女性社群的顛覆性作品——之後，Drake 在《Men Untitled》中將目光轉向男性。與她先前的作品不同，這次的主角被抽離了地理背景。透過幾乎完全抹去場域線索，她邀請觀者直視鏡頭前的男性身體。

《Men Untitled》中的人物或全裸或半裸，擺出僵硬扭曲的姿勢：身軀彎曲、背對鏡頭、穿戴著家具，甚至倒掛而立。然而，他們似乎又自在其中，甚至可能與藝術家有所共謀。

靜物畫面穿插其中——一座男性生殖器解剖模型佇立在絲絨椅上，一塊焦黑的釘板直立而起，一條氣勢驚人的蛇盤繞著一扇空窗框。

這組作品表面上充滿戲謔，而在 Drake 的後記中，這種輕盈幽默感更加凸顯——她回溯了一連串促成這部作品的個人經歷。

Carolyn Drake 於 2021 年榮獲 Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson（安利·卡地亞-布列松基金會）HCB 獎，以完成這系列攝影作品。本書封面壓印著一排白色浮雕人臉，每本均由藝術家親筆簽名。

限量 1,500 冊發行。

TBW Books is pleased to present Men Untitled by Carolyn Drake, a new series of photographs exploring her relationship to myths of masculinity in American culture.

Following Knit Club (2012–2020), a subversive work about a community of women in rural Mississippi, Drake shifts her gaze in Men Untitled. In contrast to her previous work, her subjects are uprooted from their geographies. Erasing nearly all signs of place, Drake invites the viewer to look directly at the male bodies in front of her camera.

The subjects in Men Untitled appear nude or half-dressed, frozen in awkward poses, torsos twisted and bent, backward facing, wearing furniture, and even hung upside down. But they also appear to be at ease with—possibly even acting in collusion with—the artist.

Still-lives punctuate the portraits: an anatomical model of male genitalia perches on a velvet chair, a charred board of nails stands erect, and a formidable snake wraps itself around an empty window frame.

Playful on its surface, the work’s underlying levity is brought to the fore in Drake’s epilogue, which recounts a sequence of personal experiences that motivated the work.

Carolyn Drake was awarded the 2021 HCB Award by the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson to produce this series of photographs. With a row of embossed white faces tipped on the cover, each book is signed by the artist.

Printed in a limited edition of 1,500 copies.