In a duet of pieces dealing entirely with gender, its differentiations, and their acquisition, Artist Maxx Sizeler offers an unusual interpretation. Gender characteristics begin to manifest themselves at an early age through both learned behaviors. These learned behaviors are often unconsciously or knowingly imposed upon the child by the child’s parents, mentors, and peers. In line with Judith Butler, Sizeler offers the definition of gender as “the performance by which one interprets biology. It also includes the language that describes performances such as “man,” and “woman.” The subject matter of the installation is comprised mostly of the analysis of varying forms of gener, where a hybrid form is manifested. In a combination of two pieces, the first titled Subterfuge, and the second named Gender-Auto-Mobile, Sizeler begins to illustrate the conflicts of society’s approach to gender orientation and its performance. In a combination of stereotypically gendered shapes and colors, the incongruities are made visible. Subterfuge displays a baby’s crib containing a small toy truck on a track that revolves around a larger pink shoe/truck hybrid. Gender-Auto-Mobile, is a large child’s mobile depending from which is an assortment of truck/shoe composites situated directly above the crib. The shape of a blue truck represents an obvious symbol for masculinity, while the shape of a pink high-heeled platform shoe becomes a representation of conventionalized femininity. In the process of combining these two forms, as well as their concomitant colors, Sizeler arrives at a gender fusion form in yellow. The entire theme of the work certainly discusses the social encouragement of gender orientation and conformity in small children, specifically here in newborns. From birth, people give their children toys and tools that steer the infant in one particular direction or the other. The main narrative here derives from Sizeler’s scrutiny of that fact. There should be no real reason for this to occur, yet we still deem it not just appropriate, but necessary. Although there are debatable advantages as well as disadvantages to having such gender roles, they are completely extraneous to the life of the individual except insofar as they block the development of complexity and structure cognitive development artificially.
Nick Sherman