Brooklyn-based photographer Benjamin Fredrickson expands upon the tradition of portraiture created with analog film cameras by documenting the queer fetish communities that he is a part of. His work—which has been published in BUTT Magazine, Dazed, i-D, Interview, and The New Yorker—powerfully contributes to conversations around breaking down stigmas attached to HIV, sex work, and fetish. He has had solo exhibitions at Daniel Cooney Fine Art and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, and been included in group exhibitions at the Yale School of Art and the Leslie-Lohman Museum.
Fredrickson began his ongoing “Wedgie” photo series in 2019, which has been featured in the books BOYS!BOYS!BOYS! edited by Ghislain Pascal and Body Politics: On Masculinity curated by Leon Kruijswijk. This month sees the opening of his first solo show to collect these striking and playful images, at Naruki Art Dojo (NAD) Gallery in Brooklyn, running February 10th – 24th. Ahead of the exhibition, Benjamin Fredrickson spoke exclusively with The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann while giving him the atomic wedgie experience.
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review: why are they called atomic wedgies?
Benjamin Fredrickson: “There are different variations of wedgie, but the atomic is the one where the underwear is pulled over your head. I love the shape that the atomic wedgie creates on the body. Then there are hanging wedgies, which are great but they take a lot more work and a different kind of underwear. The atomics are with more stretchy fabric. I’m going to have you get into these briefs. They’re really big, 3xXL. They’re special order underwear that can’t be found in stores, so I have to order them online.”
Where do you tend to get them from?
“I get them from Uniqlo. They’re great. They’re super stretchy. These ones are a little pre-ripped to make things easier and even stretchier.”
Do you find that there is a fun, playful, and even humorous side to your wedgie images?
“Yeah, totally, because I’m pulling underwear over people’s heads!”
How challenging is it to shoot in so many different spaces?
“That’s the best part. I started this series in my basement studio, which I have since lost access to. Before doing this series, I did portraits in people’s homes and I loved that because you never know what you’re walking into and what you have to work with. It’s pretty fun to see what I can get out of working in any given space. It’s creative and something that I’ve always loved about the process in general.”
“So we’re going to get you nice and shiny with some oil. I have to reapply the oil because the skin soaks it up and the fabric smears it off. The use of oil partly stems from my interest in physique photography which has really inspired me as an artist through the years. Oil is so common in physique photography by the likes of Bob Mizer and Dave Martin. It is a technique that really enhances the light. The light picks up everything so you get all these great highlights.”
“I like to use a traditional baby oil because it really glistens. Other oils don’t have that same sheen to them. The use of oil also makes it kind of an erotic experience.”
Do you remember the first male nude photography that you came across?
“I was a teenager and I would go to bookstores a lot. Sometimes I’d go to the really small LGBTQ sections at Barnes and Noble in the suburbs of Minnesota. It’d probably only be half a shelf of books that you’d have to really search for. I can remember coming across a TASCHEN book from the 90s that I bought and I still have today. It was a history of physique photography with a Tom of Finland drawing on the cover. At the time, it felt really good and empowering to buy that book. I was around 16 or 17.”
“I also I remember seeing work by the photographer Tom Bianchi. There are those stunning Polaroids of Fire Island and the East Village that he took, but the first images by him that I came across were his black and white non-Polaroid shots of his friends, with shots of beautiful guys diving into a pool. Those photographs had a big impact on me. There was also a Spanish magazine called Big that did a Bob Richardson issue and it was amazing to discover that kind of photographic history.”
There was an excitement to finding something like that in the middle of a bookstore wasn’t there?
“Totally, there was something about being at that age in a public space and opening a book and there being an image of this beautiful naked guy in there that was thrilling. The Internet wasn’t what it is today, so those kind of discoveries were like finding treasure. There was something really exciting about it. Even coming across a single male nude in a photography book or book about cinema was thrilling, like those homoerotic Warhol film stills.”
How do you find working with your subjects in the wedgie series – are they generally a little less self-conscious because they know that their faces won’t be in the image?
“Exactly! Having been a portrait photographer for so many years, something that I love about the wedgie series is that it is a figure study and it’s not so concerned with the identity of the subject. If I showed your face, when people look at that final image they’d be like, ‘Oh, there’s James’, right? Then it becomes so specific. Whereas it’s more about creating this fantasy where it could be anybody. There is something really sexy about that to me.”
“It doesn’t matter who you are, anyone can do this. I wish that I could photograph everyone and give everyone a wedgie. I get so many requests, but I can’t respond to everyone. It’s pretty cool to have that many people be so interested in what I’m doing. For the first time ever, I don’t have a shortage of models. I don’t even have to ask people, they offer. So that’s pretty exciting.”
So do you think you have the shot?
“Definitely. Generally, when you get the shot, you know it. I can always keep going, but then I’ll regret it when it comes to editing!”
What are your thoughts about your upcoming “Wedgies” solo show at NAD Gallery in Brooklyn?
“I’m really excited about it. I’ll be showing work shot on film, so there will be some gelatine silver prints, some colour handprints that I made in the darkroom, in addition to contact sheets and some sketches, and a few pages from an unpublished zine. I’m really trying to show the breadth and the diversity within the wedgie project itself and I’m grateful for this opportunity to show everything together for the first time. I can’t wait for everyone to check it out.”
Benjamin Fredrickson Solo Show “Wedgies” runs February 10th – 24th 2024 at Naruki Art Dojo – NAD Gallery, 184 Noll Street, Brooklyn, NY. 11237. Opening Reception: February 10th, 3-6pm.
Benjamin Fredrickson’s Wedgies is available to order from Baron Books. Book launch Saturday, November 9th, 2024 at CULTUREEDIT, 6757 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038.
