company_men-1279
“ Company Men,” is a photographic exploration on the streets of New York City into the culture of male corporate workers. To say that an individual is a “ company man, “ is generally understood to be a put down or a derogatory term that means that someone is a kind of sniveling yes man to their superiors and to their company. I have no axe to grind with these men. I have no personal feelings, good or bad for them. I do however wonder about their lives and work and what it must be like to don a suit and tie every morning and to have a regular pay check. To go straight. They are alien to me, corporate, almost generic and militaristic. They do not seem like artists, though I am sure some are. They are not leading a bohemian lifestyle. I am not attracted to a bohemian lifestyle. I think it hurts people. I am not attracted to the corporate lifestyle of these men either. But, don’t we all want something similar as human beings ? A worthwhile job, a good place to live, good food to eat. The United States is built on the promises of these things. Alexis de Tocqueville said “ Boldness of enterprise is the foremost cause of America’s rapid progress, it’s strength and it’s greatness. “ The “ boldness of enterprise,” and “ greatness,” of America that he spoke of was obliterated, undermined, and questioned during and after the financial crisis, which gave birth to the “ Occupy, “ movement that scorned the financial establishment, corporate culture, and the income disparities of America. The Manhattan that these men work in is becoming more and more a borough of the rich and those who serve the rich. David Brooks speaks of “ Bourgeois Bohemian’s, “ and said, “ It is now impossible to tell an espresso-sipping artist from a cappuccino gulping banker, and harder and harder to separate the anti establishment renegade from the pro-establishment company man. “ Not sure I completely agree with David Brooks, who I respect a great deal. In a short amount of time. I could separate the artist from the company man.