ON VIEW THROUGH TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2025
The photographs in "Male Fiction" seem vaguely familiar. The vignettes, styled and lit cinematically, appear to be part of a longer but forgotten dramatic narrative, fragments missing a beginning and an ending. Some scenes recall the suspense and ominous unpredictability in the masterpieces of Alfred Hitchcock, others the masculine libertinage in French new wave cinema. In still others, we recognize the bravado and furtive gazes of Bond-like agents and, in some, the arresting presentations in fashion advertising.
However, there is ambiguity about the images of the men themselves. While acknowledging the familiar tropes and stereotypes of stoically, inexpressive manhood, the portraits in "Male Fiction" explore the complexities beneath the surface associated with male archetypes and issues related to masculinity, sexual identity, and emotion. A complex portrayal deeply ingrained in our collective memory and popular culture.
In "Male Fiction," Lindsay McCrum creates nuanced and unexpected portraits of male beauty in contemporary settings. She uses the conventions of movie making and advertising as backdrops and vehicles for her pieces of fiction, combining lighting, costuming, staging, and camera placement to create the dramatic look of these images.
Yet McCrum doesn't replicate actual movie scenes. Her subjects are not photographed on constructed sets but rather on location in and around Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the Bay Area. Inspired by Hitchcock, she makes strong visual use of familiar—and famous—landmarks in San Francisco: The Legion of Honor, Aquatic Park, and the Headlands.
Also, with this work, McCrum pays homage to the Eastern European graphic artists who shaped the revolutionary poster art of the French New Wave. With bold, electrifying colors and dynamic compositions, she creates a fusion of cinematic allure and graphic influences. Trained as a painter, Lindsay McCrum's photographs incorporate principles of light, form, and gesture. But as a fine art photographer, she understands that the stories conveyed in these images lie beneath the surface. The man in the white dinner jacket, martini in hand; the man in sunglasses staring blankly out to sea; the man in the rearview mirror with his furtive gaze all embrace elements of strength, surprise, quiet dignity, love, and even arrogance. Inwardly, these heroes exhibit the emotional range of everyman. Their outward appearance is male fiction.
Lindsay McCrum’s work has been exhibited across the U.S. and Europe at museums including Museum Fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany; MIT Museum, Boston, MA; Palm Beach Photographic Centre Museum, Palm Beach, FL; and Ross Art Museum, Delaware, OH. There are three monographs of her work. Her books and work have been reviewed and featured in US publications and media such as TIME Magazine, The New York Times, NPR, Wired, NPR’s All Things Considered, Los Angeles Times, Juxtapoz, Today, W Magazine, and the Huffington Post. Lindsay McCrum lives and works in San Francisco and New York.
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