Ryan
McGinely
Ryan McGinley burst into prominence in
his early twenties after circulating copies
of a self-published portfolio of photogra-
phs. He has since become known as the
youngest artist—at the age of 23—to
present a solo exhibition at the Whitney
Museum of American Art. His work rev-
olves around the life and youth of family
and friends in contemporary culture, and
particularly in the Lower East Side. Wh-
ile his early works featured more candid
and documentary subjects, he started to
explore, around 2003, the possibility of
photographing directed situations. He has
since become known for studio portraits
and landscapes with bodies in action or
lost in contemplation. McGinley’s models
are usually nude, but never sexualized.
“I think most people look at
the nudity sexually, but I be-
lieve everyone looks much
sexier with their clothes on.”
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