![\"Ervin_Jon_#Manly\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Ervin_Jon_Manly.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThis toxic image of the \u201cideal\u201d man that pervades and plagues the white male psyche is why Jon Ervin\u2019s photographic installation, Man Up<\/em>, is compelling to me. Currently on view at the School of Visual Arts Chelsea gallery location, Ervin\u2019s show is comprised of poster sized photographs, three video pieces, and a wall of trophies. The installation reads a sort of mock-up of the traditional American boy\u2019s bedroom. A poster depicting Ervin as an astronaut hangs in between a television on a nightstand and the trophy wall. The poster is crumpled and damaged; indicating years of being lovingly handled and held up as the ultimate male hero. A video of the artist in a field, throwing a ball in the air and catching it over and over again until his body gives out. It is this catch game played alone that ultimately leads nowhere. A wall of trophies would indicate achievement, but these pieces bear plaques indicating nothing but mockery and failure.<\/p>\n \u201cThis body of work is focused around the confusion and frustration embedded in male culture,\u201d reads the first sentence of Ervin\u2019s artist statement. \u201cI place masculinity in opposition to itself as a gesture of pushing back against the boundaries and pressures within male culture\u2026I am playing with the lines of masculinity that men abide by, everyday, in an attempt to expose the discrepancies and the homosocial absurdities that exist.\u201d Ervin is most interested in men\u2019s relationships with each other and the love, jealousy, and resentment that are often intrinsic to them.<\/p>\n Other pieces include a wall of videos showing various white men in their underwear chugging cans of beer in one take. In another video entitled \u201cHow to be a Cowboy,\u201d the artist appears in typical cowboy regalia, following along to a trick rope instructional video. A large framed photograph of Ervin in a suit adjusting his sleeves stares coldly out at the viewer in the center of the installation. However, my favorite piece is a carriage of posters exactly like one you might find at Spencer\u2019s Gifts. The viewer can flip through the display posters, which range from comical shirtless male selfies to shots of body builders. You can even take the packaged versions home with you.<\/p>\n Ervin has begun to address the way young white men mimic each other. He attempts to show how men perpetuate their own unrealistic standards, recycling the same tropes and pointing out the absurdities inherent within them. There are no women present in Ervin\u2019s installation, and I think this may have been his smartest choice. After all, it is not women who have created these impossible, normative values. It is men\u2019s perceptions of what women desire based on their own criteria that dominates. It is inextricably tied to standards imposed by the male gaze upon the female body and it\u2019s purpose, i.e. if I believe women must be beautiful and always ready for me, then I in turn must always be attractive and strong, never weak.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n