Born: Rochester, New York
Lives: Brooklyn, New York

I use photography to realize my fantasies. Starting with my porn collection I make wallpaper to see every guy I've ever downloaded off the Internet. Then things get palatable when obsessing over monumental JPGs and dirty mattresses. Collecting, compiling, de-contextualizing and re-contextualizing is practice for the real thing when I confront these men face-to-face in front of my camera. The images may be exhibitionist but my art quietly shows me to be one of thousands, possibly millions of men online and in print, searching for our social and sexual selves under the weight of photography and pornography.

I use grid systems to explore several preoccupations. In my wallpaper the grid is compact and small, hiding the content in an all-over pattern until closer inspection. Whereas the JPG paintings stacked up against one another are obvious even if the three-dimensional grid hides more than it reveals. Finally, my photo sessions use the grid to organize time. Interestingly, my models veto whatever they do not want seen by the public, so the grid appears with holes in the chronology. Or in the case of Stephen, my ex, his portrait is all black under threat of lawsuit.