Pretty Poses

30 x 28 in oil on canvas

While I was giving a presentation for a sociology class about my work, one of the students asked me what I thought about gymnastics. After some consideration I realized there are extreme differences between the postures of male and female gymnasts. Often female gymnasts must smile and perform. I went to a gymnastics competition at UCLA where I observed a common move for the floor routine was butt shaking to the music. It seems comical to imagine a male gymnast doing the same, but painfully normal to think of a female gymnast looking cute for the judges. This series of portraits focuses on the postures female gymnasts take on during their routines that contain an element of sex appeal or prettiness.