The Beauties

Self Portrait (Iron Man) (Detail)

Heat Dye Transfer on Board
36" x 60 "
2010

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Self Portrait (Tenderness)(Detail)

Heat Dye Transfer on Board
32" x 50 "
2010

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Fun in the Sun (Detail)

Heat Dye Transfer on Board
32" x 50 "
2010

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Keeping Warm (Detail)

Heat Dye Transfer on Board
33" x 60"
2009

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Self Portrait as Most Beautiful Deb (Detail)

Archival Digital Print on Paper
24" x 30"
2009

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The Beauties

Bryce Hudson's photographic work ranges from universal visions of social structures to intimately personal visualizations of the individual. In his series the Beauties, the full spectrum of his interest in personal identity within the context of popular culture is intimately illustrated. The Beauties series explores the conventions of beauty and sexuality and attempts to decipher the impact of these standards through digitally manipulated labels and advertisements from vintage body-building magazines, Ebony Magazine and Jet Magazine "Beauties of the Week."

Hudson uses the foundation of celebrated beauties of the past in order to merge his own identity into the collective expectation of physical beauty. By digitally superimposing his face onto the original images, the male and female subjects in this series deliver his subversive imaginings with a wink and a smile. While enjoying the unexpected allure of Hudson's flirtations, the viewer is allowed to examine the often indistinct borders of modern sexual identity.