Philip-Lorca diCorcia
dal 12/5/2011 al 7/6/2011
Segnalato da
Roxana Pennie - Calum Sutton PR
12/5/2011
Philip-Lorca diCorcia
Monika Spruth Philomene Magers London, London
In his first show at the London gallery diCorcia reveals a series of over 100 never-before seen Polaroids. Displayed along a rail that traces the contours of the gallery walls, the Polaroids span the 30-year career of one of the most influential photographers of his generation. diCorcia first came to prominence in the 1970s with photographs that defied definition, existing in the space between documentary fact and movie-style fiction.
Sprüth Magers London is delighted to present ‘Roid’ by American artist Philip-Lorca diCorcia. In his first
show at the London gallery diCorcia reveals a series of over 100 never-before seen Polaroids. Displayed
along a rail that traces the contours of the gallery walls, the Polaroids span the 30-year career of one of the
most influential photographers of his generation.
diCorcia first came to prominence in the 1970s with photographs that defied definition, existing in the space
between documentary fact and movie-style fiction. The meticulous staging of quotidian scenes of family
and friends lent the images an unparalleled sense of heightened drama and ambiguity. In the 1990s
diCorcia turned his focus from scenes of domesticity to the American tradition of street photography
exemplified by photographers such as Robert Frank and Gary Winogrand. In a seminal series that was
retrospectively entitled 'Hustlers', diCorcia photographed men who had moved to Hollywood seeking their
fortune, only to find themselves working the Sunset Strip as male prostitutes.
2007 saw the publication of 'Thousand' with Steidl Dangin, a compilation of 1,000 actual-size reproductions
of diCorcia's Polaroids that instantly brought a new element of diCorcia's artistic practice into relief.
Throughout diCorcia’s work he has used the Polaroid format to augment his photographic projects and with
this publication he was able to showcase this technique for the first time. Whilst some of the images were
taken as test shots to check lighting and composition, other scenes were conceived specifically to be taken
only in Polaroid format, as an entirely separate endeavour. In 'Roid' fresh images from diCorcia's most
recognised series - ‘Family and Friends’, ‘Hustlers’, ‘Streetwork’, ‘Heads’, ‘A Storybook Life’, and ‘Lucky
Thirteen’ - are punctuated by intimate moments with family, friends, lovers, and scenes of everyday life
ranging from the view from an airplane window to a cluster of dandelion bulbs or an unwashed coffee cup
on a simple table-cloth. The installation of the works is of equal importance to the selection of images: by
displaying this collection of small photographs together, one after the other on a thin aluminium rail,
diCorcia is encouraging an altogether more immediate way of experiencing photography. Indeed,
diCorica's use of Polaroid photography is a conscious attempt to question the current preoccupation with
large-scale photographic reproduction.
Philip-Lorca diCorcia was born in 1951 in Hartford, Connecticut and lives in New York. After graduating
from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston he earned his Master of Fine Arts in photography at
Yale University. He has been the recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts fellowship three times
and has been awarded grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and the International Centre of
Photography. Solo shows include: the Photographer’s Gallery, London (1991); ‘Strangers’ at the Museum
of Modern Art, New York (1993); ‘Family and Friends’ at the Museum of Contemporary Photography,
Chicago (1997); ‘Hustlers / Streetwork’ at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte, Reina Sofia, Madrid (1998);
the touring exhibition ‘A Storybook Life’ at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, the Centre National de la
Photographie, Paris, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Fondazione Bevilacqua
La Mesa, Venice, and Centro de Arte Visuais, Coimbra, Portugal (2003); and ‘Thousand’ at the LA County
Museum of Art, L.A. (2008). Upcoming solo exhibitions in 2012 include the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt and
the De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art, Tilburg. The touring group show ‘Exposed: Voyeurism,
Surveillance and the Camera’ comes to the Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis in May 2011.
For more information, interviews, or images, please contact Roxana Pennie at Calum Sutton PR:
T: +44 (0) 20 7183 3577 E: roxana@suttonpr.com
Opening Thursday 12 May, 6-8pm
Monika Spruth Philomene Magers London
7A Grafton Street, London, W1S 4EJ
Opening hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10am - 6pm
Admission Free