Rizzoli: Ryan McGinley, The Monograph

American publisher Rizzoli just released the first major monograph of Ryan McGinley whose work has been recognized for the past ten years. Through his viewfinder, we rediscover the intimacy of his generation, photographed with brio. In 2000, Ryan McGinley turned 22. He organized his first exhibition in an abandoned Soho studio and self-published his first book, Kids are Alright. The youth who posed or simply appeared were amateur collaborators: street artists, skateboarders, musicians, hetero or homosexual couple. Quickly, art critics and curators, including the respected Sylvia Wolf (Whitney Museum) recognized the young photographer’s talent and the beauty of his pictures. humble, natural, marvelously well-framed pictures where carelessness becomes a religion and nudity, a door to freedom. The photographer has glowed ever since. The work published by Rizzoli gathers the most impressive pictures of his career. The spontaneity of the captured moments is expressed on the ground, in the air or under water, depending on whether the subject chose to lie on the ground, attempt to fly, or imitate sea mammals. Of course, there is the omnipresent nudity, the impression of an immaculate world, but we would love to follow the glances of these men and women ready to fight for life. In these carefully composed portraits, we are easily attracted to the often positive and authentic attitudes of these young subjects. Sylvia Wolf, who discovered Ryan McGinley and offered him a personal exhibition at the Whitney Museum, making him the youngest artist presented there, describes his work in these words: “People fall in love with his work for his story of freedom and hedonism: where Nan Goldin and Larry Clark showed anxious adolescents suffering, taking drugs and having sex in uncontrolled cityscapes, McGinley clearly announce that “The Kids are Alright).” By abolishing preconceived notions about adolescence, Ryan McGinley describes above all a modern youth without complexes, ready to grow. Whistle for the Wind, the book published by Rizzoli, will provide skeptics with the instruction manual. Ryan McGinley : Whistle for the wind Publié chez Rizzoli USA Hardcover / 240 pages / 150 photographies $55 U.S. ISBN : 978-0-8478-3831-8