Kenneth Tam Creates a New Frame for Asian American Masculinity

by Aaron Hunt

Installation view of Kenneth Tam: Silent Spikes, Queens Museum, 2021. Image courtesy the artist; photo by Jason Mandella.

I grew up watching fellow Asian men over-perform generic models of white masculinity. Whether they played the raunchy everyman or the fitness bro, they seemed to evade Asian stereotypes only to assume white ones, sculpting their bodies and minds in response to them all the same. At times, I was guilty of this too. With Silent Spikes, now on view at the Queens Museum, Kenneth Tam considers these white archetypes via the iconography of the cowboy, tracing its influence on Asian American masculinity from the Reconstruction era through today.

Tam’s work often explores white American standards of masculinity and how they are interpreted and performed by men of color. In his films, he places groups of male non-actors in simulated environments like a faux summer camp (Griffith Park Boys Camp), or High School Prom (All of M), and observes them as they naturally assume roles with minimal direction...READ MORE