You and I

Ryan McGinley makes large-scale color photographs of his friends, a group that forms part of New York s Lower East Side youth culture. He uses photography to break down barriers between public and private spheres of activity. His subjects are willing collaborators: drawn from skateboard, music, and graffiti subcultures, they perform for the camera and expose themselves with a frank self-awareness that is distinctly contemporary. The results form a portrait of a generation that is savvy about visual culture and acutely aware of how identity can be communicated through photography. McGinley s newest work signals a departure from the urban youth culture images for which he is best known; he has been working in natural settings outside New York City, creating specific situations for his subjects to lose themselves in the moment.