With the emergence of a fierce phallocentrism, a man was no longer a man because he provided care for his family, he was a man simply because he had a penis. Furthermore, his ability to use that penis in the arena of sexual conquest could bring him as much status as being a wage earner and provider. A sexually defined masculine ideal rooted in physical domination and sexual possession of women could be accessible to all men. Hence, even unemployed black men could gain status, could be seen as the embodiment of masculinity, within a phallocentric framework. Barbara Ehrenreich’s The Hearts of Men
bell hooks – Reconstructing Black Masculinity
El Bembón made its debut at Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art, Friday, August 6, 1999 “Artist Up Front Street” solo exhibition “I’is.” “El Bembón Y Ella” along with “Body and Soul” was the talk of The Bacardi Limited 2000 Bermuda Biennial. Juried by Susan Masuoka M.A. M.F.A. in design Ph.D. in art history. Director of the Tufts University Gallery in Boston, MA., gives critiques at the School of The Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston and teaches art history at Brandeis University. El Bembón was also in The Hampton University Museum, The International Review of African American Art (IRAAA).
El Bembón is Spanish slang for fat lips. It was not my first choice for a name for my bronze sculpture, “model with a chubby” was. Intended, to be a topic of sexual objectification of the male body, my contrasting to the valuation of female body objectification; the proliferation of voluptuous breast represented in the media from advertising to art. My reasoning, men, too are an object of beauty, irrational desire, sensitivity, self-consciousness, and shame. Psychologically, El Bembón bronze sculpture represents my need for acceptance and love expressed with my adult body disguised as lust under testosterone’s effect this is the beauty of art. It means something different to everyone at different times. When I was sculpting, this was not on my mind. I wanted a male figure that exudes confidence pride, self-love to achieve that I focus unconsciously on its opposite. By defining confidence security and beauty, el Bembóm reveals what I redefine as beautiful, strength and passion. My insecurities.
