daddy's boy

This artwork was designed to suggest a Greek temple. The artwork is composed of remnants from an antique foundry mold and the shaft pieces from an antique floor lamp. Atop is affixed a machinist’s bullet lamp that is used for illumination.

In the photograph we see presented idealized masculine beauty in the ancient Greek tradition. The photograph has been wrapped in copper wire to suggest that the men depicted are imprisoned and/or otherwise removed from mainstream society.

Greece was the birth place of the Olympic games, so it is no surprise that in ancient Greece cultural capital was placed on athleticism. The beauty of a fit, muscular masculine body occupied a central role in Greek culture and aesthetics.

The athletes of ancient Greece typically exercised in the nude in gymnasiums, where they would also socialize and practice sports in the nude. Men were encouraged to maintain their manly bodies. Indeed, any sign of flabbiness was seen as undesirable. The later remains true today in our culture, leading to problems with body dysmorphia and body shaming. A physically fit male is desired in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships.

The two men depicted here are flexing their muscles and showing their bodies to their sexiest effect. The question arises: Are they posing for an observer or are they posing for each other? The title of this artwork is a pun on the title’s command, and it is left to the viewer to decide which one is Olympus.

Here we see two older men, a gay couple, presumably together for many years. Their relationship is remembered now only as traces of light on gelatin silver photographic paper. The double exposure appears to document a happy home life and also suggests that they remained together even after their lifetime ended.

This photo was removed from an unknown ‘photo album’ and put up for sale on eBay. Perhaps the album was initially purchased at a yard sale because there were no living heirs to inherit the ‘family photo album’ and was later disassembled for sale by an enterprising eBay seller. The more likely scenario was that a surviving heir was so removed in time from their ancestors shown here that the photo album lacked personal meaning for them, and/or they decided to remove from the family album any documentation of a same-gender relationship that had existed in their family. In any event, the monetary value of the photo became more important than any sentimental value that may have existed.  

The artwork is framed using a men’s leather belt. The photograph is affixed to a remnant of an industrial foundry mold. D’Elia uses old foundry molds in his art because his father was a pattern-maker and made similar things out of wood for a living and so D’Elia grew up with them in his life. These handmade foundry molds are discarded objects, sadly much like the photograph seen here. We also see the use of remnants from an antique weight scale, suggesting the difficult balance that gay men often face in deciding when and how to reveal to family and friends their true self and love relationships.  

This artwork is from an ongoing series by the artist featuring vintage double exposure photography as a commentary on the quick passage of time and the importance of celebrating and embracing relationships during one’s life.