Ian M. Schmidt

white men. These objects investigate the ambiguities of cultural rituals and societal expectations of masculinity through sculptural artworks and installations. I am interested in questioning not only the public, but also the intimate spaces where masculinity is cultivated, such as the moment when a father ties a tie on the neck of his adolescent son. Repetition plays a key role in my work, it is both how I have learned to make and how I have practiced to be a man. Critiquing the result of that practice aids in identifying how a young white man is formed both by tradition and society, therefore this work identifies that ability to have access to economy and privilege. The image of the knot, therefore, becomes a central trope in this body of work. For myself, the knot represents these moments of solidification of manhood as a fixed identity that entails privilege, but at the same time presupposes a myriad of cultural values that silence vulnerability, desire, and subjectivity.