The Bachelor

For over a millennium, the male nude symbolised power in Western visual culture, dominating cathedrals, palaces, and galleries as the ideal of civilisation. Victorian prudishness, Romanticism’s heteronormativity, and societal shifts sidelined the male nude, replacing it with the fetishised female body. Recently, the male nude has resurfaced, often as a comedic curiosity.

Curated by Andrew Nicholls, The Bachelor invites female and non-male artists to reinterpret this archetype, challenging its history through diverse perspectives. Inspired by Duchamp’s The Bride Stripped Bare and pop culture’s The Bachelor, this humorous, poignant collection examines objectification, heroics, and evolving archetypes.