Goal Weight…

A passing glance, a lingering look, a smile - Michael Verhoef’s work explores the lived realities of being an older gay man. Through photography, papermaking, painting, and printmaking, he navigates these experiences with self-portraiture and anti-portraiture, offering perspectives that challenge mainstream representations of contemporary gay life.

For Michael, art is a way of making sense of a world shaped by childhood trauma, sexual abuse, addiction, and ongoing mental health challenges. He has lived with diagnoses including cyclothymia (a form of bipolar), severe depression, social and general anxiety, and borderline personality disorder - all of which inform and deepen his practice.

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My own history with eating disorders informs this painting, which offers a critical response to our culture’s widespread obsession with beauty and the pursuit of the 'perfect' body. Alongside this obsession - amplified by trends like weight-loss injectables - this work also reflects on the specific, often intense, focus on the idealised youthful physique within gay culture.