While female identity politics has been explored in depth in contemporary art over the last thirty years or so, artists who explore notions of masculinity or masculine identity have been rarer to come by. Dionysis Kavallieratos and Sifis Lykakis’ work is rooted in the domain of the male gendered subject. Their collaborative videos focus on, pinpoint and deconstruct male stereotypes as propagated in popular culture and entertainment with a tongue-in-cheek self awareness and scintillating wit. While works that deal with gender may often tend to be heavy handed and didactic Kavallieratos & Lykakis’ work is not about the politics of gender nor does it deal with the archetypal notion of the (male) body as a battlefield or the site of trauma. Rather it focuses on the behavioural and miscreant social aspects of masculinity and is deliberately more light hearted, using humour as a subversive strategy to pinpoint the more juvenile or extreme aspect of gender stereotypes and the construction of masculinity, or more correctly, machismo. Male bonding and camaraderie, power relations, ‘manly’ hobbies, pastimes, fixations and fetishes are all brought to the fore in their witty vignettes. There is no room for women here. This is clearly a man’s, or should I say, a boy’s world. There are also hardly any overt intimations of masculine sexual desire or any traces of the practice of commodifying women (at least, not yet). This is world that revels in the things that make boys tick.
While their attitude seems to be irreverent and hit-and-run their working method is clearly more considered. It is a method that is largely informed by images and practices culled from cinema and popular culture. The moving image with its temporal flow, capacity to tell stories, and mimetic possibilities is the starting point of their collaborative practice but their engagement goes yet further and is more hands-on. Kavallieratos & Lykakis make all the videos themselves often setting up carefully orchestrated scenarios and settings with nominal means and fusing video with satirical performance and specially selected mood-setting music. In some of the works the influence of cinema and theatre is clearer, especially in the scenography or ‘direction’ in others there is a more immediate, D-I-Y feel; sometimes there is an underlying sense of populist realism other times the work seems more recherché.
Apart from devising narratives and setting the scenes (from ‘stage design’ to costumes) in their short playful vignettes Kavallieratos & Lykakis also star in their videos and do so with great panache, relishing in the act of role playing. In Tooveetheeoo Lai Lai, a mini-spaghetti Western unto itself, they act out the male tendency toward aggression, violence and competition in a highly comical way: from the enactment of being ‘cool’ right down to the tough-guy, glass-eyed expressions and outbursts of rage. Re-creating the long western iconographic tradition of representing heroes poised for combat in a battle of male egos, Kavallieratos and Lykakis poke fun at the genre but also have fun themselves. There is a sense of gratification to be found in these works for the viewer as well as, apparently, for the artists. There is also a slapstick element of hyperbole in much of what they do whether it is taking a stereotype to extremes in this noisy, deliberately crass male brawl or the more restrained, highly stylised and theatrical domestic setting of Untitled. Here too, there is an interest in role playing and in the male fixation with power. In the refined environs of what appears to be an opulent aristocratic period mansion they alternate in the roles of master and servant. Movements are slower here, more ritualised, less ‘loud’ but the sub-text is similar as in the Western: the (elegant) struggle for domination and control. This is decadence with humour and style. This is also refusing to grow up.
Engaging in humorous and satirical commentaries of cinematic culture, Kavallieratos & Lykakis analyze, deconstruct and sometimes simply enjoy enacting these constructions of masculinity. Sometimes it is difficult to figure out their intentions and their own position seems to remain ambiguous. With an economy of means but equipped with a sharp eye for detail and a talent for the performative they manage to create a distinct language in the medium of video, always rewarding the viewer with a small twist in the end. Acting as bad boy pranksters or artist-jokers Kavallieratos & Lykakis capture the vivacious spirit, bad attitude and supposed fearless and competitive nature of the restless young male. Politically correct this work is not, but it’s stylish, funny and refreshing.

Katerina Gregos