Christopher Selleck - Collographs

We caught Christopher's work scrolling Instagram and his "jockstrap inspired" collographs caught our attention.  We thought they would be perfect to introduce at Art Gaysel at Hôtel Gaythering.  

Christopher describes the work as follows:
"I started thinking of these as COLLAGRAPHS (a collaged print) but some people refer to the process as blind emboss/blind embossing.  These prints were made by collaging jocks to masonite board with varnish and various sealants. You can see the edge in these as they also make a border. I soak a sheet of Rives BFK to soften and then send them through an intaglio press under high pressure with a few felt blankets to buffer. They have strong formal elements but also have a strong tactile approach too. The soaked paper allows for a deep imprint much like the mark left by the elastic on skin. The connection to sports and masculinity have been central to my work of late, and I love how the jockstrap functions as this dated symbol or archetype of a specific type of masculinity and how that is appreciated and consumed differently today."

Christopher's full bio follows:

Christopher Selleck is a Minneapolis-based artist working in a wide range of media and formats, including photography, video, sound, installation, printmaking and sculpture. Born in Augusta, Georgia, Christopher has been part of the Twin Cities’ arts community for over 20 years. His work has appeared in shows locally and regionally, notably at SooVAC, Katherine Nash Gallery, and the Plains Art Museum, and nationally at Rubine Red Gallery in Palm Springs. Christopher earned his BFA in Photography from the University of MN-Twin Cities and his MFA in Visual Studies and Photography from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. Christopher Selleck has won two Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants, and won numerous awards, including a juried commission award from the Minnesota Opera.

Growing up closeted in the post-AIDS, pre-Internet minefield of the 1980s and 90s, Christopher sought affirmation of his gender and sexual identity in a cultural landscape rife with negative images of queer masculinity. His search for guidance on how to be a man became a lifelong obsession with the contradictory messages from mainstream gay culture, heternormative society, and his own family on what makes a man. Bodybuilders, fighters, and other athletes figure prominently in Christopher’s work, representing both the apex of masculine physicality as well as, unexpectedly, softer terrains. The dance between hypermasculinity and surprising vulnerability is at play through much of Christopher’s work.

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