Winkleman Gallery is very pleased to present Man Cave, our third solo exhibition by Vermont-based sculptor Andy Yoder. In a new body of large-scale and mid-sized sculptures, Yoder continues his exploration of the subtexts of our relationships with domestic objects and the symbols of suburban living.

Concerned specifically with the conflicts that arise from human domestication, via cultural expectations of conformity and assimilation, Man Cave takes as its central focus the rooms in American homes generally viewed as “masculine”—the basement, den, or garage—in which men typically arrange as they wish the tools, sporting equipment, and collected objects designed to tame the great outdoors or simply symbolize their more violent nature. The various states of disuse of such objects serves as constant reminders not only of unrealized potential, but their neglect often mocks the very spirit that draws men to them.

In Man Cave, through a poetic matching of object and material, Yoder plays with gender stereotypes by feminizing objects that are usually considered male, underscoring the types of universal conflicts that play themselves out inside the privacy of homes…male aggression vs. female submissiveness, machismo vs. domesticity. Surplus hubcaps are cast in lead crystal, with unique additional designs cut by a master craftsman from Ireland. A life-size garage door covered in pink silk flowers, referencing perhaps both abstract painting and caskets. A life preserver is fashioned from red coyote fur, glamorizing the keepsake even as it renders it unusable and a reminder that status and wealth are meaningless on a sinking ship.

The centerpiece of the exhibition, Mister D, is a nine-foot-tall bowling pin covered in thousands of bright pink silk roses. Looming over the viewers like a parent over a child, both masculine and feminine, attractive but faintly intimidating, Mister D epitomizes the built-in contradiction Yoder is highlighting throughout the exhibition. Like a bullet, its elegant, Brancusi-like form belies the violence of its function.

Andy Yoder has exhibited widely throughout the United States and Europe. In addition to two invitations to the American Academy of Arts and Letters annual exhibitions (2003 and 2007), he has exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, the Reykjavik Art Museum, and will be included in the upcoming exhibition of new sculpture at the Saatchi Gallery in London titled “Shape of Things to Come.” His work has been reviewed in Art in America, The Village Voice, The New York Times, TimeOut New York and others.