I Love You, Man: I Think This is the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

Intimacy in the age of modernity is hampered by gender role expectations and prevailing stereotypes. Kerry Cronin, a guest columnist for the blog New Feminism, posed the questions: what does real intimacy entail and how do I know it when I see it? Her questions are valid -- yet they give rise to more questions. How does real intimacy manifest itself between men? How does a close non-romantic relationship between men differ from the genuine intimacy shared by female friends? Conceptuality of intimacy is shaped by a diversification of visual images populating mass media. I Love You, Man: I Think This is the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship probes the numerous bromance movies which proliferated movie theaters over the last ten years; the current body of artwork I am creating is my response to the bromance movies. The nature of the bromance movie is to talk about male friendship in a comedic manner; therefore, the term is a preemptive strike against the suggestion of homosexuality. Rosie Franklin in her blog called Disrupting Dinner Parties, Feminism for Everyone, says “…there are no neologisms for female platonic friendship the way there are for male friendship because there is no urgent need to specify ‘no homo’ for female friendships. The word ‘bromance’ exists to specify ‘we’re not gay’.” Male characters in bromance movies play for the big laughs as they guffaw, snicker and feign queasiness at physical or emotional intimacy. Bromance has become a contemporary buzzword which drips with defensive irony. In this culture of irony, the act of sincerity or an honest overture of intimacy is dismissed and lost in the laugh track. In my artworks, I am the main character rendered alongside various women friends. We are engaged in the human activity of intimacy. The familiarity is replayed in simplistic actions yet the nature of intimacy is complex. Some images are seemingly mundane, innocuous acts like two women, two straws and one drink. Other images are larger-than-life intersections of affection like the hug of two nude women. These artworks are not dependent upon a barrage of punchlines like those found in bromance movies but rather they are quiet interludes of intimacy. In a society consumed by social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, we have numerous connectivity modalities available to us. Connections on the internet are devoid of the one basic need every human craves – real intimacy. Real intimacy involves shared space in real time and an acute awareness of one another. At a time when irony and sarcasm reign and sentimentality is pooh-poohed, I am, in my own hokey way, paying tribute to women in my life who have touched my existence by the warmth of a smile, the touch of a hand, or the brush of a kiss.