Australian painter Ben Quilty's ironic take on the straight white male
The artist charts historical travesties and wounded masculinity in an attempt to find himself
Yeah, exactly. Well, I'm a straight white male, and in Australia it's a paradigm. Until recently, out of all the front bench ministers in the Australian government there was only one female — and all the rest are straight white males. So it is an ironic title, and in a way I'm trying to subvert that paradigm by examining myself. Much of my work is autobiographical.
I think the form of masculinity that I lived as a boy coming into adulthood was extremely regressive, but it has been a natural progression from that after the feminist movement. I think, and hope, that young men will have an easier time now — and my son, for example, will have a much easier time because I have a greater understanding of my role. My father was the first role model for the sons after the feminist movement.