Daniel Cooney Fine Art presents Benjamin Fredrickson’s (b.1980) debut exhibition of Polaroid photographs. Fredrickson’s images document his years as a sex worker in the Midwest, his private sexual life and his community of gay men both in the Midwest and New York City.
Fredrickson himself appears in many of the images as an active participant in the culture he photographs. He is pictured sitting on the lap of a “John”, having intercourse in a dungeon and in various other sexual scenarios, sometimes exploring S/M and fetish. His photographs of other men are at once loving and honest and brimming with sexual desire and lust. Most of his subjects look directly at the camera, aware that they are being observed and presenting themselves for that purpose.
The consistent theme throughout Fredrickson’s images is the longing for and sometimes the event of human connection, either by sexual interaction or through the act of photographing and being photographed. He makes himself vulnerable and in turn other men reveal themselves for his camera and the viewer’s gaze.
Fredrickson’s work is at once shocking and familiar. While playing in the arena of sexuality he explores human instincts of attraction and danger, the thrill of risky behavior and the need to be desired. Furthermore, he explores human sexual behavior in the realm of bondage, S/M, exhibitionism, and roleplay.
EXHIBITION
Benjamin Fredrickson
Through February 28th 2015
Daniel Cooney Fine Art
508 West 26th Street #9C
New York, NY 10001
USA
