Say what you want about the lack of variety in Ryan McGinley’s oeuvre, but we can’t resist ogling the images anytime that he releases something new. Plus, there’s something to be said for his aesthetic’s influence on the photography world as a whole, and the fact that he remains one the youngest artists to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum. “My photographs are about removal: bringing people to nondescript locations, to places that aren’t recognizable, removing their clothes, capturing them with a very limited style palette,” he explained. “I try to think about how timelessness, isolation, and style interact.” Click through to check out a slideshow of the seven large scale photographs from his latest series, Wandering Comma, an “optimistic” title which McGinley says “refers to a kind of fluttering butterfly,” and let us know what you think of his shtick in the comments.
The first time we heard about the copyright lawsuit against photographer Ryan McGinley, we decided it was pretty ridiculous. Now, thankfully, a federal judge agrees. Judge Richard J. Sullivan has ruled against artist/musician Janine Gordon (aka JahJah), who claimed that no fewer than 150 of McGinley’s images were “substantially based” on hers. McGinley countered that his photos bear no resemblance to Gordon’s, a position supported by Sullivan in his rather exasperated-sounding decision: “the dictates of good eyes and common sense lead inexorably to the conclusion that there is no substantial similarity between Plaintiff’s works and the allegedly infringing compositions of McGinley.” If you’re interested in seeing for yourself precisely how tenuous the connection between the two photographers’ work is, there are plenty of examples in Sullivan’s decision [PDF], as well as at ANIMAL. [via ArtsBeat]
Today at Flavorpill, we considered starting a collection of celebrity finger puppets. We wished that we could get our hands on Jane Austen’s unpublished manuscript for a novel called The Watsons that’s going up for auction at Sotheby’s in London tomorrow — but sadly, we don’t have $330,000 to spare. We wondered if Rolling Stone’s “Rock Stars Who Look Like Wizards” will be the silliest Harry Potter-related feature that we’ll see all week. We watched a very young Louis C.K. do stand-up at Caroline’s in the early ’90s. We felt kind of sorry for Tom Green, who has emerged from the depths of obscurity to claim that he invented “planking.” We were kind of excited by the rumor that Kanye West will show a collection at New York Fashion Week in September. We couldn’t help but think that this Ryan McGinley lawsuit was kind of ridiculous. And finally, were thrilled to read that Errol Morris is making a film with Paul Rudd and Ira Glass. Is there any way that it won’t be likable?
An outrageous yet elegant purveyor of youth, Ryan McGinley has photographed feral kids naked in caves across America, posed them nude with animals in black-and-white studio shots, and zoomed in their goose-bumped flesh on seamless paper. For his second solo show in Amsterdam, and his first at Galerie Gabriel Rolt, the talented Mr. McGinley shuffles the deck to present a masterful mix of uninhibited 20-somethings frolicking in nature — naively picking flowers or wildly jumping from trees — and amusingly embracing birds of prey, kittens, and snakes in stark studio settings. Printed on a large scale, McGinley’s somewhat cinematic scenes capture an age of innocence and exuberance better than most movies nowadays — and they’re quicker to view. Click through a gallery of McGinley images from Somewhere Place after the jump.
If an army of fully stripped people galloped down our street right now, we’d probably think, “Oh, that Spencer Tunick is at it again!” So what does it take to liven up this photography genre? Contemporary photography like Miru Kim’s nude jaunts has become iconic, but how many nighttime rooftops and decaying buildings does a girl have to climb to make a statement?
The newest photographer to join these ranks is Erica Simone whose series Nue York at Damon Dash’s New York City gallery opens next month. Let’s take a survey of the contemporary risk takers whose work toes the line between exhibitionism and fine art and how they evolve and stand out. Grab a jacket. It might get a little nippy.
From David Hockney’s iPad drawings of freshly cut flowers to Szabolcs Veres’ nightmarish canvases of grotesque characters, 2010 saw established and emerging artists utilizing new technologies and ancient means to express their inner realms and comment on the ever-changing world around them. Takashi Murakami transformed the Château of Versailles into a manga-inspired fantasyland; Ryan McGinley shot thousands of pictures of youthful nudes on seamless paper; and Edward Burtynsky documented the BP oil spill from an aerial point of view to reveal both the horror and beauty of manmade disasters. After the jump, click through to learn more about these exhibitions, as well as shows by Catherine Opie, Erik Parker, Pieter Hugo, and others that complete our top ten art picks of the year.
When it comes to Ryan McGinley, most people either love his work or hate it. We’ve always been in the former category. Whether he’s shooting spectacular color photographs of pretty naked young things in underground caves across America or black-and-white photos of pretty naked young things in his studio, there’s a compelling quality to his images that goes beyond mere provocation. They can be nostalgic, innocent, and sexual all at once because it’s not about capturing youth, but some shared fantasy version of it.
Controversy and the fashion industry go together like a pair of stilettos with matching clutch. So when the South Korean fashion label, Lewitt, released a 3:34-minute commercial directed by Ryan McGinley wherein the protagonist runs through empty alleyways and abandoned buildings only to jump off a building multiple times — in multiple outfits, of course — to her apparent death, should we be shocked? It’s important to note that South Korea has one of the highest rates of female suicide in the developed world, with nearly 19 out of every 100,000 women killing themselves in 2008. South Korea’s own rising fashion model, Daul Kim, hung herself at the age of 20 last November. Perhaps this data is preciously why Lewitt made the commercial they did: they know scandal requires context, and scandal sells.
Vice‘s annual photo issue is on stands now (this year’s theme: “Still Lifes”), and it contains eye candy from the likes of Spike Jonze, Tim Barber, Ryan McGinley, Catherine Opie, and Terry Richardson. To help celebrate its release, the magazine is staging a week-long exhibition of work by one of its favorite lensmen, pro skateboarder Jerry Hsu. Preview a few of his photos from The Torture Never Stops after the jump, and click here to explore all of the work featured in the new issue.
Ryan McGinley shifts gears from his last solo outing in London, where he exhibited spectacular color photographs of naked youths in underground caves across America, to an equally compelling new series of black-and-white photographs of bold young souls, shot nude in his studio. Capturing every move his diverse mix of models made on stark, seamless paper, McGinley chose the best shot from thousands of poses to represent each expressive sitter.
Stripped bare of their clothing, India, Cody, Jerilyn, Eduardo, Mari, and dozen of other posers put their fresh faces forward, and the resulting photographs, which are on view in the exhibition Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere at New York’s Team Gallery through April 17, do not disappoint.
