Mixed Signals: Artists Consider Masculinity in Sports

One American stereotype that has never faltered from its aggressive, hypercompetitive, sexual brand is the male athlete.  Mixed Signals: Artists Consider Masculinity in Sports, an exhibition of contemporary art that deals with the subject of the male athlete, features 17 artists. Some of the artist included in the exhibition are Matthew Barney, Catherine Opie, Collier Schorr, and Sam Taylor-Wood to emerging talents such as Shaun El C. Leonardo and Joe Sola. These artists as well as the others included in the exhibition expose elements of wit, sarcasm, and controversy, challenging cultural assumptions that gender is ever natural or innate. Instead, they emphasize the many ways masculinity is performed and socially constructed. Another theme of this exhibition pertains to the materials, symbols and regalia of sports, which often signify the prowess of the wearer. Mixed Signals is an expanded version of Contemporary Projects 11: Hard Targets – Masculinity and American Sports, and exhibition curated by Mr. Bedford and organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  A 72 page illustrated catalog accompanies the exhibition and is available at The Warhol Store.

Mixed Signals:  Artists Consider Masculinity in Sports is a traveling exhibition organized and circulated by Independent Curators International (ICI), New York. Guest curator for the exhibition is Christopher Bedford.  The exhibition, tour, and catalogue are made possible, in part, by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the ICI Advocates, the ICI Partners, Agnes Gund, Gerrit and Sydie Lansing, and Barbara and John Robinson.

Mixed Signals is an expanded version of Contemporary Projects 11:  Hard Targets–Masculinity and Sports, an exhibition curated by Bedford and organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The Andy Warhol Museum’s presentation of Mixed Signals features work by artists Tim Hadfield, Wardell Milan, Duane Rieder, and Michael Halsband.