Pacifico Silano: Weekend Lock Up, 2012
The Male Fantasy Icon series, by Pacifico Silano, appropriates images of Al Parker, a famous gay porn star in the 1970s. Sometimes Silano works with magazine pages with their edges turned down or staple bindings showing; other times, with pages that are torn or crumpled or with parts of the image removed. In doing so, he not only examines Parker’s persona but also confronts his own consumption of the imagery. The series showcases the dichotomy of the images as public cultural icons meant for private use.
In the photograph Weekend Lock Up, 2012, we see pieces of Parker with a Tom Selleck-esque mustache in poses reminiscent of a more carefree time, before the AIDS epidemic. Without the worry of sexually transmitted infections, Parker is erotically intertwined with a companion, lost in ecstasy. Silano’s work fuses the fantasy of an earlier moment in the culture and a poignant recollection of what has been lost.
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