Made by a Man

Made by a Man

The Made by a Man exhibit was a showing by J. Casey Doyle in which he displayed large cloth like materials made entirely of the plastic threads pom-pons are made from. Doyle had made large weaves of the threads that gave the illusion of something else entirely. Each piece was unique and obviously extremely time consuming to make in both scale and design.
There are obvious gender questions throughout the exhibition. Even the title itself drives to ask questions about gender identification and societal ideals of gender stereotypes. To not beat the dead horse and explain my thoughts on the obvious elephant in the room I found myself more attracted to what each “blanket” represented. The plastic threads were just a few centimeters wide and no thicker than a single sheet of paper yet they were displayed on the wall with such mass and volume that I was overwhelmed. The folds and waves looked so similar to a large quilt that it took me by surprise. Something so flat and dull could be weaved into something so full and intricate. The material itself was transformed into an object so far from itself that it seemed to obey an entirely different law of physics.
The weaves in each piece caught my eye and  forced me to look at the investment Doyle had made. I feel the series brought about questions of gender stereotypes, not only present but enforced, in society but I was so blown away by the transformation of materials that went into sending the message. It's like a two dimensional figure trying to look at a three dimensional object.