Derek Sanderson by Kurt Kauper

Artist who painted hockey players nude: “Everyone assumed I’m gay.” | AfterElton.com:
The paintings are by one Kurt Kauper who is a well-known and respected artist known for his portraits of folks he’s never met. He’s also not gay. In an interview with the Boston Globe Kauper says,

People didn’t really ask the question so much as assume that I’m gay. If a woman paints another woman in the nude, it would be interpreted as a painting having to do with a woman’s identity. But when a man paints this painting, it’s associated with homoerotic activity.

I think that sadly, this is true. it comes back to one of my biggest issues, gender vs sexuality. the assumption is that they are always linked and the raw fact is that they have nothing whatever to do with each other. if you believe that gender and sexuality are the same, you open up to assumptions that being gay is a choice and that everyone is naturally straight – that being straight is biological and that being queer is emotional. I wont even get started on the assumptions around the trans community. I think that until people divide gender and sexuality in their heads, ridiculous assumptions like this will always occur.

The other assumption made with Kauper’s works is that a nude is automatically sexual in nature – which then goes back to the gender debate. there are many reasons to paint a nude, and, like the quote above, it’s assumed that while women want to explore identity and body issues, men do it to look at a nekkid person. not a moment is spared for thinking that the nude could be a representation of a person’s raw emotions and vulnerabilities. nobody considers that the human body is beautiful and that it is natural to explore it – no. yet again it all comes back to sexuality and sexualization.

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