Mantel

2006

Needlepoint

Dimensions variable 

Type A involves needlepoint-based reconfiguration of the off-color and politically incorrect slogans and logos found on bumper-stickers and t-shirts sold in truck stops and novelty stores. These texts range from the ridiculously to a more macho, flag-waving kind of posturing. This material comprises of humorous for a particularly masculine frame of mind, one that is not necessarily so socio-economically specific to the adequately themed per se, but that certainly presumes the cultivation of a more primeval sensibility.

Type A’s recontextualization of these rather guiltily pleasurable bits of low-grade wit, represents at first glance a sort of esthetic; yet upon further reflection their manner of facture (needlepoint) is one that is incongruously coded as feminine. Displacing these boorish slogans from the beer gut to the blank white museum or gallery wall, Type A uses a familiar form of low pop cultural vernacular to encourage consideration of how these relatively innocuous statements play a role in reconfirming certain dimensions of masculine identity.