HOMOSURREALISM HOLLYWOOD
NIGEL GRIMMER - BRUTALIST BUTTZ
Men are often discussed as having an inherent need to leave their mark on the world, a legacy for future generations that stems from a fear of being forgotten. Children, art, novels and architecture have all been seen as the physical manifestation of this need to be remembered.
In architecture tall buildings or concrete monoliths are often described as being symbols of (straight white) masculinity. The terms "phallic verticality", "phallic erectility" and "phallic brutality" have been referred to by architectural theorists; including the French sociologist Henri Lefebvre who discusses these structures as both symbols of male fertility and masculine violence.
Brutalist Buttz is a tongue in cheek photographic series produced in 2018 with a group of gay male volunteers recruited from Grindr and Instagram. Images of the currently fashionable architectural style Brutalism were projected on the backs of the models, resulting in a surreal mixing of the natural and man-made and of hard and soft forms. A queer frisson takes place as one man’s phallic structure is literally projected over another’s proffered butt.
Nigel Grimmer creates various albums with friends, family or recruits from social media. Within the albums strange actions are repeated until they become the normal. These projects aim to highlight the constructed nature of photographic language while producing both a social interaction and memento of this interaction for the participants. Nigel Grimmer is from Norfolk in the UK and lives in London. He is Course Leader of Fine Art at The University of Bedfordshire.