Sociology

Ryan McGinley is a wunderkind photographer who's been celebrated on one or other of my blogs before.


He's now got some new show opening in some commercial gallery or other.


His work is of that sleazy-vérité-semi-porn-arty style introduced by people like Nan Goldin.


But McGinley tends to use young models, people who are ideal targets for big fashion business.


It's therefore unsurprising that his style has proved eminently transferable to big advertising campaigns.


His photos also seem to me to reinforce the increasing sexualisation of our society, depicting a world in which rigid social barriers are increasingly irrelevant.


I've no idea whether or not this is A Good Thing (the barriers crashing down, I mean, not McGinley's rather sharp images), but maybe it's worth considering some of the pros and cons.


Meanwhile, McGinley's work can serve as a useful prompt to us in our thinking -- just as it appears to have inspired some amateur photographers (this next shot is a "DIY recreation of a famous photograph [by McGinley]", and it's rather jolly):


We're not just here to perve at the youthful winkies. Oh, no.