Ryan McGinley began making photographs at the age of 21 and became a figure of the underground New York in the early 2000s, with fellow-artists Dash Snow and Dan Colen.
Ryan McGinley began making photographs at the age of 21 and became a figure of the underground New York in the early 2000s, with fellow-artists Dash Snow and Dan Colen. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums including PS1/MoMA in 2004, and MUSAC in Spain, in 2005 and in public collections at the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Recently, he has been more and more involved in fashion photography, notably shooting for Pringle of Scotland in 2009.
How would you connect fashion to elegance?
Elegance sounds like a word that old people would use. I would never use it – it makes me think of a stuffy dinner and it makes me feel trapped, like things are too precious and not spontaneous. If something is elegant, I don't want to be there. On the other hand, fashion is a word that sounds fun. Wearing clothes and looking at someone dressed really great is fun. Even looking at someone dressed badly is fun.
What is the role of history and art history in your conception of fashion?
I like how Mark Twain wore white suits toward the end of his life. Arthur Rimbaud seems like he was well dressed. Joan of Arc looked good in all that shiny armor, and Jesus Christ looked great in a loincloth. I definitely have historical fashion icons. But honestly, I’m more interested in the history of nudes in art since that’s what I photograph the most.
Would you describe fashion as a language and a discourse, as Barthes did it?
Sure, Roland Barthes was a smart dude, at least from what I remember when I read Camera Lucida in college. I wasn't a very good student.
The word "intellectual" was coined in a time of great political distress. Does fashion have a political role? And in which way?
I don’t know if this counts, but I guess you can make political statements with what you wear, like the Sex Pistols wearing torn-up clothes and S&M gear to shock the middle class, or Morrissey wearing NHS (welfare) glasses. Sometimes fashion tries to make political statements, but I don't know if it actually has any affect on anything. Fashion seems pretty apolitical to me, and when they do try to be political, it can often ring false because ultimately they are trying to sell you something. There can be exceptions, like Stella McCartney not using any leather or fur. That’s a great example of successfully incorporating your political views into fashion. But it’s few and far between.
How would you relate the concept of fashion to the one of style?
Fashion is an industry and style is personal. That’s that.
What does fashion have to do with intellectuality?
If you want to infuse fashion with theoretical meaning and write lots of big-worded books about it, more power to you. I just appreciate it for its aesthetics and its sexiness. If I can see the outline of a guy’s cock through his pants then I’m happy.
Your photo series often represent naked people. What would be the aesthetic specificity of nudity ?
It’s funny because I feel like most people from the fashion industry who look at my photographs see my nude models as mannequins and they picture their clothes on them. So even though they are nudes, they’re still relevant to fashion in a way. But I shoot nudes because they’re timeless. I like that they exist out of time and out of fashion. And I’m endlessly fascinated by the naked form. If you’re nude, you have my complete attention.
You started as an underground photographer, and you are renowned as an artist. How would you see the relation between these parts of your activity and your work in fashion ?
I’m interested in all aspects of popular culture. I make music videos and films and art and fashion photos. It’s all an experience and it’s what I can take from that experience. Doing one thing all the time gets monotonous so I’m interested in exploring all different kinds of photographic expression. And it’s fun to get dressed up and play make-believe. It’s fun to look at sexy girls in sexy dresses and to feel glamorous. Why not?
Ryan McGinley, Somewhere Place runs 9 April – 14 May at Galerie Gabriel Rolt, Amsterdam.
In this column each interviewee picks the picture that illustrates their interview, answers six questions that are the same for all contributors and then two more that are designed specifically for them. In two weeks Donatien will be interviewing the artist NS Harsha.
