Ryan McGinley

Whether from another time or place, the distinctly alien subjects in Ryan McGinley’s work—naked, pale, androgynously luminous creatures—certainly don’t seem to be from around here. McGinley got his thing down early, documenting the doings of his friends as a teenager on New York’s Lower East Side in moody images that caught the energy of a particular time and place. After self-publishing those pictures in a small book called The Kids Are Alright in 1999, McGinley’s career caught fire, and he soon became, at 25, the youngest person ever to be given a solo show at the Whitney. Having arrived, McGinley continued to expand and refine his formula, shooting portraits of his gangly group of melancholic hedonists both in the studio and on the road. He’s photographed the Olympics, Oscar nominees and MIA for The New York Times Magazine, and his work has been acquired by institutions such as the Smithsonian, the Guggenheim, and the Saatchi Collection. In 2007, he received the ICP Infinity Award for Young Photographer. McGinley, a native of New Jersey, lives and works in New York. He is represented by the Team Gallery. View additional work credits on MyFDB.

Photo by Levi Mandel, 2010