Topic Presentation

Ryan McGinley
By Nick Soler
Background
Ryan McGinley was born October 17th, 1977
in Ramsey, New Jersey. He grew up in a big
family being the youngest of eight kids.
As a kid he was seen as very on edge being
into skate/snowboarding, graffiti, and punk
music
He was really good at snowboarding, even
competing in the east coast amatuer circuit in
the early 90’s
He studied at Parsons school of design
under graphic studies
Background Continued
McGinley started testing the waters of photography in
Parsons where he developed the book “The Kids Were
Alright” which was a curation of up close and personal
portraits of those that he was surrounded with in NYC
A copy of McGinleys book made it into the hands of
Sylvia Wolf who was so impressed by the work that he
got McGinley his first ever exhibition
Wolf would state the following in regards to the work of
“The Kids Were Alright” “The skateboarders, musicians, graffiti
artists and gay people in Mr. McGinley's early work 'know what it
means to be photographed. [...] His subjects are performing for the
camera and exploring themselves with an acute self-awareness that
is decidedly contemporary. They are savvy about visual culture,
acutely aware of how identity can be not only communicated but
created. They are willing collaborators."
Background Continued
McGinley closests friends are Dan Colen
and Dash Snow who has passed. The
three of them all grew up together in the
lower East Manhattan neighborhood
passing time by skating and making art.

Outside of McGinleys photography, he

created the band The Virgins with poetic
lyrics surrounding living in the city life.

On top of that he’s created an array of

commercials for companies such as Levi,
editorial work for New York Times, The
Olympics, and has made quite a few
short films
Mimic Work
The work that I will be mimicking is McGinleys original start to photography, “The
Kids Were Alright”

The reason I chose this piece is from the rawness that stems from the images.
You can sense the pure emotions like anxiety and pain. There’s an unsettling
feeling of what happens after they take drugs or whichever predicament is being
photographed.
 Subject matter: All of the photos taken in this collection
are some form of portrait photography. The art conveys

Making My Observations depression and angst through blood, bruises, drugs, and
vomit

-How were the photographs made? All of the shots taken

during this collection are in real time and are not
preplanned

-Tools of photography used? It is said that McGinley

worked with a Yashica T4, a 35mm compact camera with
auto-exposure. Although there is no manipulation, it
shows that the photos are all in free spirit

-Discuss composition elements the artist favored- Blood,

bruises, and drugs are the primary elements favored

-Elements of Art- In a sense, the element could be

described as fill the frame, in the occasion that there is a
background, it is either a plain one or it’s blurred

-Discuss how aperture and shutter speed may have been

used- The photos were taken on automatic, therefore the
shutter speed and aperture were corrected by itself

-Consider the lighting: The photos were all taken in front

light with the lighting itself being natural or the flash
option of the camera.