The Exhibitionist Economy: It’s Just Objectification. Calm Down, It Works

Strip down, stand still, and suddenly you’re valuable. Not for who you are—just for how much they can see...

In a dimly lit art gallery in Los Angeles, Ryan Allen Carrillo stands without a thread of clothing, except for a digitally imposed red Instagram-like heart covering his groin. The photo is part of the Smoke + Mirrors promotional campaign: a conceptual contemporary art installation by photographer Stefan Pinto. It’s striking. It’s intimate. And yes, it’s objectifying. That’s the point.

The piece, titled The Exhibitionist Economy, explores the increasingly blurred line between performance and perception, especially in the digital age where the perfect male body is endlessly dissected, desired, and double-tapped.

The image asks one question: What does it take for a man to be considered worth looking at?

“We’re in an era where visibility is mistaken for intimacy,” says Dr. Corinne Faraday, a psychologist who studies the intersection of social media and self-worth.

“A well-lit body with visible abs and a large penis can command more attention than most published authors. That’s not irony. That’s design.” - Dr. Corinne Faraday

And design is exactly what this image leans into. The body is lit like a product. The red heart icon doesn’t censor; it brands. It labels the subject as desirable and validated, turning objectification into currency.

“Aesthetically, we’ve entered a new phase of gallery exhibitionism,” says Jerome Heller, curator at the Faux Modern in downtown L.A. “Carrillo’s posture, the framing of the crotch with a social media icon, the silent eye contact—this isn’t vulnerability, it’s authority. He’s not asking to be seen. He’s demanding it.”

Behind Carrillo, other images loom. A black-and-white photo of a shirtless, bearded Pinto (the artist himself) holding a Fred Perry bag. Painted faces stare. And on the far right, nearly missed at first glance, a single hand reaches into the frame—anonymous, grasping, voyeuristic.

“That hand changed everything,” says Dr. Faraday. “It introduced threat, desire, maybe even consent. In the psychology of exhibitionists, there’s always the unknown observer. This photograph makes that real.”

The composition is flawless but disruptive. The subject’s penis is not visible, yet its suggestion is part of the artwork’s power. This is where virality meets theory: the idea that the perfect male body—strong jaw, muscular shoulders, lean torso, implied large genitalia—is a digital product meant to be consumed, but never touched.

“I didn’t need a caption,” says Carrillo, who has previously modeled for Pinto in both fashion and fetish contexts. “The body said everything they were hoping to hear.”

And it did. The response was swift. Thousands of likes. Hundreds of shares. DMs ranging from flattery to fetishism. But unlike thirst traps, The Exhibitionist Economy doesn’t ask for attention. It critiques it.

“It’s not nudity. It’s choreography,” adds curator Heller.

“And in that choreography, the male body becomes less about sex and more about semiotics. It becomes all about what we see, what we think we see, and what we hope is there.”

So yes, it’s objectification. But maybe it’s also honesty. A reminder that the line between art and exhibitionism has always been thinner than anyone admits.

Because when you strip it all down—literally and figuratively—the most powerful position you can take in the room is to simply stand there.

And let them stare.

Oh, you read this far; must mean you really want to see the uncensored. Here you go! You’re welcome.

BTW, Ryan played Felix Faust in Stefan Pinto’s DC Comics “Are You a Suoer Hero or Are You a Super Villain?” exhibit? Sadly, he was very covered.

Catch Ryan on reruns of Million Dollar Listing and Expedition Impossible.