Exhibits & Events

James Oliver Gallery in Philadelphia welcomes you to Male Gazing, a solo exhibition featuring Matthew Borgen.

The images focus on cisgender, hetero, white men displaying fear, anxiety, insecurity, desperation, sadness, resentment, and rage. These intense emotional states are tempered by humor and satire, using a familiar, cartoon aesthetic – typically thought of as harmless. (Those familiar with the work of Honore Daumier, Thomas Nast, or Matt Groening will recognize the strategy.)

The resulting psychological distance provides an opportunity for the viewer to consider how these feelings can devolve into misogyny, racism, homophobia, jingoism, or a general distrust of the “other” without automatically invalidating the initial emotions themselves or the real world circumstances that elicited them.