Hey Everyone,
I have a show that opens this week at Brazosport College in Lake Jackson, TX. Below is an artist statement I wrote for the occasion. If you find yourself in the Lake Jackson area, feel free to drop in.
Best,
Terry
Stop That Cryin’
By: Terry K. Davis, M.F.A
I would like to thank John Wayne for influencing this show. He’s a long-dead and nostalgic memory of mine. However, I’m not interested in his image in the way it was characterized by the iconic, western genre films that made him famous. I’m fascinated by his countless performances of the male sex role, now etched into the history of the American pop culture machine (of which, I am a rabid consumer). John Wayne is a role model for many, and he used to be mine, but our relationship is complicated. Many male relationships are.
By studying the actions of my childhood role model, I found the mention of a relatively unknown book on male sexuality called The 49 percent majority: The Male Sex Role edited by Deborah S. David and Robert Brannon. The book was written back in 1976. It separates male sex stereotypes into 4 neat categories; No Sissy Stuff, The Big Wheel, The Sturdy Oak, and Give ‘Em Hell. I’m fascinated by these descriptions, and the goal of my work is to illustrate the concepts for myself. My art functions as a way for me to understand myself better, and the images I make speak in ways my words never could.
The work in this show is a nonlinear, autobiographical narrative of my experiences performing male sex stereotypes. It questions the behaviors I was taught to embody by the John Wayne-era films I watched as a child. Behaviors like heightened aggression, the desperation for success, and the repression of my more vulnerable and subjectively shameful emotions (like crying). It's an exhibit that tries to recognize the stereotypes of the male sex role for what they are; false notions of a bygone era, of which men no longer need to keep living. I hope this helps you as much as it helps me.
