The male figure in Art - Hussain and Coplans

British artist with Pakistani decent, Mahtab Hussain (b. 1981), explores the important relationship between identity and displacement. His themes develop work that challenges the concepts of multiculturalism.

He created a series labelled “You Get Me?” which has been published by MACK books. In this series he has taken portraits of young working class, British Asian men in and around the streets of Birmingham, Nottingham and London. A very interesting genre to choose not only because he personally can relate but it is hugely underrepresented in the media and when they are, it is in a very negative way.

This is the first artist I chose depicting the Male presence and particularly this piece;

This piece made me instantly cringe looking at the veins on his arms. They are look as though the muscles underneath are pushing them out. The subject obviously takes pride in his appearance, that must of taken many hours in the gym but this produces a juxta position between his refined, sculpted body and the messy unkempt background surrounding him, cluttered and unloved. I feel he is standing is a very aggressive stance, looking slightly down at the viewer which portrays a dominating feel. Another noticeable point; the image has been take in landscape rather than the usual portrait which isn’t often seen but I think the feeling of this image would be lost without the background.

Hussain’s ability to see past the stereotypes, which also apply to himself personal, but it allows the viewer to not only look at the subject but also of their own opinions of them. It’s something I will like to explore in my own work this year.

The second artist I chose that depicts the male figure is another photographer, John Coplans. Coplans began his one-theme photography in 1984, at the age of 64 he captured his own aging body focusing on hands, fingers, knees, arms, feet, genitals, navel, back producing a beautiful clean sculptural image.

All of the shots are absent of his face, which I feel gives the bodies an “everyman” look. Something that isn’t celebrated in today’s western culture – wrinkles, sagging and body hair of the average man but the result it is absolutely beautiful.

''If I accept the cultural situation, I'm a dead man,'' – Coplans

Later in his career his work moved into a series of split images across a number of canvasses and I feel this actually removes the punch that his earlier work gives. I feel it reminds me of a billboard.  

The two artists I chose because they are both addressing society’s views and the opinions we are pushed to think through the media. The fact both artists are not pushing any opinion, they are just showing the truth. The truth that we don’t always see. Something to explore in my own work this year.