Youth, liberation and the joy of losing yourself in the moment are elements that feature throughout Ryan McGinley’s work; from his early roots in documenting the urban adventures of his downtown Manhattan friends to his subsequent cross-country travels in utopian environments throughout America, to his most recent studio portraits. Recently the photographer sat down with The Talks, a weekly online magazine, to discuss the obsession that goes into the world of photography. Choice excerpts are available below, while the entire interview can be read in full here.

Mr. McGinley, Robert Frank once said, “There is one thing that a photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment”. Do you have the same approach?
It has to feel real and feeling real sort of means feeling human, but my world is all fantasy and Robert Frank’s world is all reality. However, within my world of fantasy I am searching for moments that seem like reality. Does that make sense? Often it’s really just about the insanity of what’s going on when I am shooting and then finding that one moment that seems kind of human is a big part of the art.

Do you remember the first objects you became obsessed with taking pictures of?
When I started to shoot I took pictures of literally everything: outside airplane windows, the food that I was eating, homeless people sleeping in the park, people playing basketball, my friends – literally whatever was in my life. It was like an obsession! Then over a few years I figured out that I really liked action, nature, and nudity. Those three things are a major part of what I do. I am always searching for something that I never would expect to happen.

Speaking of your friends, Dash Snow played an especially big role in your early work. How did you two meet?
I met Dash through this graffiti-writer named Earsnot who I have known since I was fifteen years old. I grew up skateboarding with him. When I moved to New York I started dating guys and then someone said, “You know that guy, Earsnot? He’s gay, too.” We became really close friends because within a skateboarding community there were not many gay people – and especially not in graffiti. When I met Dash with him, we had this instant bond; we were like best friends from the first minute on.

You photographed Dash a lot over the years and you were often the subject of his photographs as well.
Dash was really into taking Polaroids. He was a great photographer and I guess we just clicked on that. He would carry around ten packs of Polaroids with him every day and shoot them non-stop. Mostly because his mind worked so fast that he couldn’t wait for a picture to develop normally. When we became friends it was my first three years of making photographs: it was hanging out with these guys, running around on roof tops and in subway tunnels, hanging out in bars and especially their bathrooms, doing drugs and having sex. But I guess that is what every young artist does when he moves to downtown New York.

People let you take these intimate pictures of all that madness without any worries?
Everyone was actually really into it. I think it’s also because we were so fucked up on drugs every single day that the photographs were like the evidence of what happened. I feel like there was a good three years in my life where I don’t think that I had any touches with reality or anything like that. But the photographs were great because it was this evidence of what happened. So I would develop my rolls and then get them back and be like, “Oh my god!” I was just constantly running around doing illegal activities all day long.

Why did you stop documenting things and moving to staging photo shoots?
I got so much attention from that show at the Whitney that everyone sort of knew who I was and up until that point nobody really knew me. So then when I was making photographs out and about, it didn’t seem real anymore. I felt like people were too aware and I wasn’t this anonymous person with a camera anymore. It didn’t feel right. I also sort of had shot everything that I wanted to shoot. I was getting bored of documenting things. I just felt like it was time to start making things happen.

In further exploring Team MADE‘s Art Basel Miami 2011 conquests, we take a look at The Trilogy Exhibition, which was held at The Ring Art Center. The project situated at the heart of Miami’s art district highlighted the works of New York artists Dan Colen, Dash Snow and Ryan McGinley. The weekend was capped off by an intimate and upscale charity auction to in turn benefit the construction of a recycled playground to be built in Haiti. One piece from each artist was bid upon, as the proceeds were then awarded to the great cause.

American photographer Ryan McGinley, known for his provocative style will present a new body of work next month in Holland. While some of McGinley’s recent works covered have focused on a more simplistic black and white tone, a preview seen here takes on a more dynamic outlook which continue to embody his themes of sexuality and youth through both studio and outdoor sets. The exhibition will begin on April 9 at Galerie Gabriel Rolt.

Source: Arrested Motion

Furthering two themes introduced at London’s recent Frieze Art Fair, photographic artist Ryan McGinley will soon unveil a new selection of luminous photographs. Set to exhibit at San Franciscan gallery Ratio 3, the collection opens on October 29. The collection will showcase a series of naked models with potentially dangerous animals and in more familiar style, a set of progressive images, dreamlike compositions in incandescent color schemes. Rounding off the event, a 44-page monograph published by Dashwood Books will accompany the show.

Ratio 3
1447 Stevenson Street
San Francisco
CA 94103
United States

Source: Arrested Motion

Nowness puts us onto this new film from renowned artist/photographer Ryan McGinley. Taking on a musical twist, the film provides an intimate portraits into two of America’s more buzz worthy bands, Smith Westerns and Girls. The piece was shot during this year’s Pitchfork festival and provide one more reason to love the work of Mr. McGinley. Enjoy!

Paris-based Galerie du Jour played host to a special exhibition this past Thursday, featuring works from Dash Snow, Harmony Korine and Ryan McGinley. With Snow having unfortunately passed in 2009, the show re-lived some of his last works amongst the late creative’s friends and peers. Images of the exhibition can be seen below, with the show itself open to the public until November 6th, 2010. If in town, be sure to swing by Galerie du Jour.

Galerie du Jour
44 Rue Quincampoix
75004 Paris
France
Tel: 01.44.54.55.90

Photography: Karl Hab for Hypebeast

Parisian gallery Galerie du Jour plays host to a special exhibition on September 9th, featuring works from Dash Snow, Harmony Korine and Ryan McGinley. With Snow having unfortunately passed in 2009, this show will re-live some of his last works amongst the artist’s friends and peers. For those in town, be sure to stop by, as the exhibition will run through November 6th, 2010.

Galerie du Jour
44 Rue Quincampoix
75004 Paris

Source: Sneakers.fr

NOWNESS, Ryan McGinley and Carolyn Murphy team-up to present McGinley’s latest cinematographic piece, “Entrance Romance”. Shot with a Phantom camera, super slow motion shots of over 1,000 frames per second are achieved and interwoven with some unusual scenes. With Carolyn Murphy as the focus, she engages in some jaw-dropping activities including having an entire fishbowl smashed against her head.

Ryan McGinley: Entrance Romance
Carolyn Murphy Lights Up the Photographer’s Daringly Spiritual New Film

“I knew it was going to be wild when I signed on,” says Carolyn Murphy, who stars in Ryan McGinley’s exclusive short film Entrance Romance (it felt like a kiss). “Next thing I know, my manager is telling me that they’re going to break glass on my head and my leading man’s a dog. I’m like, ‘That’s it?’ I was so sure I’d have to take my clothes off,” she says, laughing. Shot with a Phantom camera (capable of capturing video at over 1000 frames per second), Entrance Romance sees the all-American beauty (since 2002 the face of Estée Lauder) cheerfully turning a can of WD-40 into a flame thrower, passionately kissing a dog and smiling serenely as a bowl of goldfish smashes over her head. Murphy notes: “We did the fishbowl scene in just one take. As soon as it cracked against my head, everyone dove down and scrambled to pick up the goldfish. None were hurt in the making of this film!” The film’s collision of innocence and thrill should be familiar to fans of the photographer’s previous work – carefree, hazy shots of teenagers jumping off cliffs, skinny dipping or cavorting in remote locations (earlier this year, McGinley debuted a film for Pringle of Scotland featuring Tilda Swinton in a forest and caves) – but here the action is exquisitely drawn out, with the camera registering the most minute changes in Murphy’s expression. Despite the relentless focus, her face remains unflinchingly calm, emphasized by beachy makeup, luminous golden lighting, and a meditative, chant-led soundtrack, all of which provide an intriguing contrast to the film’s explosions of glass shards. “We thought about going with a really rough punk rock look,” makeup artist James Kaliardos says. “But Ryan loved the idea of showing this iconic, fresh-faced California girl in an entirely new context, so I did fresh, 70s “no-makeup” makeup. We wanted her to look happy and in control, but still vulnerable.” So she does – and her bliss is infectious.

Offered above is a behind-the-scenes look into a photo shoot by Ryan McGinley, shot for New York Times Magazine and featuring star musician M.I.A. Although only about half a minute long, the shoot clearly gives us an indication of the action that went down that day. Enjoy!

Interview Magazine recently sat down with American photographer Ryan McGinley to talk about his latest series “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”, which opens on March 18th at Team Gallery in Soho. The series of work follows a theme of youth exploration, where 100 portraits of young men and women from the age of 18 to 29 are documented to look at characteristics such as color, sex, sexuality and body types. The full article is available here, with imagery below.

Source: Interview Magazine