P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center presents a selection of approximately twenty recent color photographs by Ryan McGinley, most never-before exhibited or reproduced. This exhibition of new photographs signals a departure from the urban youth culture images for which the artist is well known.
While he is best known for capturing intimate and everyday images of his extended family of friends (including skateboarders, graffiti artists, and lovers) in and around the Lower East Side, McGinley has been working almost exclusively in natural settings outside of New York City over the past nine months. For the first time, he has set up situations specifically to be photographed, but he also creates the conditions in which his subjects can lose themselves in the moment—as when a group of young people climb naked into the upper branches of a tree or float underwater at night. In these new pictures, McGinley has embraced nature as a site of freedom, and he searches for and captures a sense of buoyancy and release. Also on view is a selection of new portraits in which his subjects are bathed in a luminous glow or are captured in deep silhouette.
Organized by PS1 Curatorial Advisor Bob Nickas, the exhibition will be accompanied by a limited edition book, with an essay by the curator.