Luke Smalley: “Exercise At Home”

We'd say that Luke Smalley's photos of wholesome-looking all-American jock types engaging in homoerotic exercises together were totally sexy if they weren't quite so ... well, strange. Why are those two boys tethered at the head with that odd-looking harness contraption? What are those swimmers doing splayed out on a parquet floor instead of doing laps in the pool where they belong? And what exactly does a game of "Donkey Basketball" involve? And yet, there's a definite sexual buzz going on in pretty much every one of Smalley's photographs (which are currently on display at the Wessel + O'Connor Gallery in DUMBO through February 2) despite the stilted poses and bizarre tableaus. Let's just say it's a different kind of sexy: if a Bruce Weber Abercrombie campaign was filtered through an Edward Gorey sensibility, it might look something like this.

· Luke Smalley: "Exercise At Home" (wesseloconnor.com)