About

ARTIST STATEMENT

Male Gender Stereotyping

It would appear that all corners of the world are in great flux, dealing with everything from economic and political instability, to issues of cultural instability and issues of gender identity, among a long list of changes happening the world over. We are all feeling and seeing the suffering daily through a wide array of social media and various news channels. It is hard to fathom where so many on this planet find themselves today. Although it may not be the trendy topic of the moment, and admittedly men have held the majority of power throughout the course of history, I still venture to ask, at what cost to both humanity and the earth itself have male power structures existed? I am not a believer that these historical patriarchies across the planet have led us to a better place. This artwork is about the exploration of male gender stereotyping within the culture. And yet I am not one for shock art. These works primarily take a different approach - with subtle and not so subtle comments about male cultural stereotyping and how this ultimately hurts the entire culture. As young boys, so many of us are taught that truly feeling or expressing our honest and often vulnerable emotions is not appropriate for a man. No, we are too often built to create financial empires and machines to protect our nations, and at very least most often be the dominant breadwinners in our relationships, or so they say.

Right out of college I had a chance to meet with Rianne Eisler and to read her book, “The Chalice and the Blade”, in which she explores the histories of “partnership cultures” related to “domination cultures”. These partnership cultures were often matriarchal, and her science has shown phenomenally different results in the ways humans were able to live in different historical periods. But young boys in the modern world are not exposed to the types of cultures she has explored, and one result of this is that men, whether straight, gay, bi, whatever, are too often forced to live within much too narrow ideas as to what it means to be a man. And men are hurt by this, and ultimately the entire culture suffers. Generally, in comparison to the breadth of what status quo “culture” finds acceptable for women to express, men are too often deemed weak if they express similar emotions. And therefore men continue to “stuff” their feelings or ignore their emotional natures, with significant cost to themselves, those they love, and the culture we live in itself. One sad fact related to this is that almost as many soldiers from the Vietnam War have actually died from suicide (roughly 50,000) as did soldiers who died while fighting in Vietnam (roughly 55,000 - 58,000).

These paintings, works on paper, videos, and concept based pieces all attempt to explore issues of cultural male stereotyping, yet so doing generally keeping within traditional art forms. For example, from a distance a given painting may appear to have pleasing color combinations, and yet upon the viewer getting closer, they will see a narrative at subtle play juxtaposing men from widely different areas of the male cultural spectrum.

Ben was a typical student athlete back in high school and college. He played collegiate football at Middlebury College, as well as spending time at American University in Washington DC, studying International Relations and gaining some exposure to the ways of “The Hill” and its’ political workings; and so he has some first hand experience as to the ways many of the current patriarchal systems reward men who stay within certain “male identities”. In fact, a life in the arts was never on the radar until he randomly took a basic drawing class while in college with the artist Squeak Carnwath. It is an understatement to say she forever changed his world.

BIO

Benjamin Junta lives and works in Los Angeles, California.  He employs a variety of media in his work - oils and acrylics, spray paint, stencils, collage, found objects, tree bark, beach sand, clothing, street detritus, photographs, digital media, and written words.

A graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles, his artistic studies began with Squeek Carnwath at the University of California, Davis, as well as at Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT.  His early works were largely influenced by Mark Rothko and Richard Diebenkorn, and later by his study with the painters Wolf Kahn at The Santa Fe Art Institute (in the Hans Hoffman tradition of "push-pull"), Bernard Chaet, and the teachings of Charles Hawthorne and Henry Hensche as studied at the Cape Cod School of Art in Provinctown, MA.  He also studied at The Vermont Studio Center with the British painter John Walker, as well as with American still life painter William Bailey.  He has exhibited on the East Coast, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Los Angeles, CA, Santa Barbara, CA, as well as at Stanford University and other locations in Northern California.  Locally, in Los Angeles he has exhibited with Hale Arts Space, Santa Monica, CA,  The Palos Verdes Art Center, Palos Verdes, CA,  Siren 6500, Hollywood, CA,  SPACE Arts Center, South Pasadena, CA, Beacon Arts, and Resin Art Space, Hermosa Beach, CA.  His work is in both private and corporate collections throughout the country.

CV available upon request.