Daniel Funkhouser's Gender-Bending "Cacophrodisiac" Opens Tonight at eye lounge
Phoenix New Times
By Benjamin Leatherman Fri., Nov. 18 2011
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/jackalope/2011/11/daniel_funkhousers_gender-bend.php (http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/jackalope/2011/11/daniel_funkhousers_gender-bend.php)
"The title is a pun on the words 'cacophony' and 'aphrodisiac,' because of all the chaos inherent to my art work. And because this show is a little bit more about gender and sexuality than some of my other shows," he says.
Gender is an important issue to the artist, who describes himself on his Facebook page as being "both male and female and neither male nor female." As such, most of the pieces in the show are self-portraits where Funkhouser explores his feelings about his own gender.
For instance, a larger piece entitled "Saturday Evening Glitter" riffs on the traditional stereotypes of husband and wife as portrayed in Norman Rockwell's iconic paintings for the Saturday Evening Post. Funkhouser took Rockwell's work and has "subverted it and made things really camp" by depicting himself in both the male and female roles since he "has a very fluid sense of his own gender."