I do a lot of research to figure out
where I want to go, and for years I
would research photos of people in
landscapes in different seasons.
them, when you’re coming at it from two different places,
back at your work, is there any picture or series that you
is interesting. I’m always open to it.
love in particular?
ANDREA: Do you feel you can keep your artistic integ-
RYAN: I think that there are two bodies of work, the
rity doing commercial shoots? How much input do you
caves and the ice photos, because they’re things that I’ve
have, as far as the creative idea?
never ever seen in photography before, and I felt were
truly original. I do a lot of research to figure out where
RYAN: It’s always a collaboration. Obviously, when I’m
I want to go, and for years I would research photos of
working on my own stuff, that’s uniquely my vision. I’m
people in landscapes in different seasons. I hadn’t seen
always collaborating with somebody to get some ideas,
cave photographs with people nude in them, or even
but with a brand, it’s a meeting in the middle. I would
many cave photos at all. And there are no images of
say that it’s more like 50/50. I always go in knowing
people nude out in icy landscapes. The only photos that
that: I know that I’m trying to bring their vision and my
I ever saw would be people who were in a sauna in Esto-
vision together.
nia or something. And they’d go and roll out in the snow
and hop back in the sauna, but it was always very close.
ANDREA: Several recent campaigns you’ve worked on
There wasn’t anything like a really beautiful landscape.
have focused on diversity in identity (race, gender, etc).
So those two projects feel really original and interesting
Is that of your choosing, or is it the advertising agency’s/
when I look at them.
the brand’s?
ANDREA: You took one picture of somebody over Times
RYAN: I’m interested in that. One of my favorite things
Square, swinging. How’d you do it?
to do is to cast. I think, more than anything, I’m interested in people, so I love casting and finding people
RYAN: It was this rapper, M.I.A., who I was close with
and hearing about their lives. It’s a really big part of my
and loved. The New York Times was doing a story on her
artistic process, so that makes me very happy. I think
and she was on the cover, so she asked me to take the pic-
that in the recent projects you’re talking about how I
tures. She said, “I want to do something really New York
tried very hard to bring on people who may not nor-
and really crazy.” So what I did was I set up a swing. I’ve
mally be in advertising, but who I’d worked with a lot
worked a lot with stunt coordinators, so I drew this idea
in my personal projects. Whether it’s a personal project
on a napkin, and I showed it to my stunt coordinator and
or for a magazine or company, I try to have a very big
said, “I kind of want to build a swing set on top of a build-
say in the casting.
ing and have somebody swing out off of it.” And he was
like, “We can do that. They can’t swing out off of it, but I
ANDREA: What’s next now that you’ve decided not to
can get it close enough that they look like they are.”
do the road trips?
Basically, what we built is what they have at a concert
that they put the lights on—a steel truss. Then we made
RYAN: I didn’t expect it to happen, but I ended up hav-
a swing and a harness that went from the swing up the
ing all of these survey shows of the last seventeen years
person’s back. We constructed it, and we got a building
of taking photographs. Last May I had one in Amster-
to permit it. We were on 8th Avenue, and we put it right
dam, I recently had one in Italy, and I literally just came
in front of Times Square, so we had that as our backdrop.
back two days ago from one in Tokyo. So I’ve been
Whatever I’m asking someone to do, I’m also going to
spending a lot of time setting up those shows and re-
participate. I got on the swing, and they put the har-
flecting on my photographs since I started. That’s where
ness on me, and I swung out. It was such an amazing
I’m at right now.
feeling, being able to see the city on a swing, swinging
out almost over a building—it was like the best roller
ANDREA: Now that you’ve had a chance to really look
Ryan McGinley, Alex (Levitating), 2009.
17
coaster ride ever.