Go on, don’t be shy, hands up if you’re only now beginning to emerge from your post-NYE deep and dark hangover gloom. Wherever you were, whatever you did, I hope you rang in the new year with aplomb and I wish you all the very best for the months to come.
As, I suppose, a way of encouraging us all to at least strive to achieve our aims in 2012, this week sees the blog play host to some of fashion and art’s most inspiring men and their plans for 2012.
First up – artist Stuart Sandford, whose work I first came across through prolific London-based photographer Jeff Hahn. Sandford’s oeuvre is chiefly gender-focused, interrogating contemporary attitudes towards masculinity and representations of the male body (be it in the throes of passion, at rest, or deep in contemplation). Having worked principally in photography in the past, Sandford turns his hand to a radically new form of opening up the forum for discussion of men today in his new project for 2012: Stuart Sandford Bodybuilding.
For the new year I’m going to be hitting the gym, a lot. In fact, I’m working on a year long project whereby I’m transforming my body from an artist to an athlete. It’s an extension of my existing work regarding the male form but it’s also a critique of the current state of arts funding in the UK, specifically relating to the massive divergence of Arts Council and lottery funding to the upcoming London Olympics. It’s gonna be a tough but, hopefully, enjoyable year.
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Good luck Stuart!
What an interesting topic – I'm interested to see the end result after associating oneself with Leonardo di Vinci's Vitruvian Man.