In her celebrated series “Guys Who Look Like Jesus,” which was first exhibited in 2002, Nancy Burson presents a grouping of ethnically diverse models who bear a resemblance to the icon. She discovered the subjects of these portraits through listing an advertisement in the “Village Voice,” calling for “Jesus look-alikes” of all races and ethnicities.
In this series, as well as in the companion piece, “Women Who Look Like Mary,” the artist bookends the photographs with both a composite portrait of these likenesses plus another amalgam of art historical representations of the religious figure. Burson takes viewers’ expectation of the appearance of the religious icon and juxtaposes it with the images of her photographic subjects.