In Graham Little’s uncanny world – currently on show at The FLAG Art Foundation in New York – reality is almost imperceptibly skewed and figures, presiding over tea tables or posing for portraits, are almost familiar. The Scottish artist riffs on the rich worlds that populated late 20th-century advertising and 1960s fashion photography for his impeccably designed rooms, in which gorgeously clothed people self-consciously reside.
‘It has always felt important for me to listen to the imagined desires and feelings of the models and stylists of the source material,’ says Little on the intertwining of cultural references throughout his work. ‘I prefer to help them build those worlds and expressions instead of my own. Sublimation of my fears and my concerns for how everyone manages and copes in life.’
Graham Little at The FLAG Art Foundation, New York
Graham Little, Untitled, 2000
Intimately sized, Little’s gouache and coloured-pencil works on paper command the viewer to come closer as if they’re peering through the keyhole, casting us in the role of intruder. The figures in the works think so too – caught holding stiff poses, they avoid our gaze.
The exhibition at FLAG Art Foundation unites 16 works created between 2000 and 2023, in the LIttle’s first retrospective in the US. ‘The earlier works were direct and therapeutic in that they allowed me to momentarily disconnect from masculinity,’ says Little. ‘After a while I have given permission for some of my own subjectivity and reason to shape the image. The eras of fashion photography that inspired me were of a time of better connection with our own thoughts and community; before the invention of the handheld hoover for the soul, a time before we sold off our thinking space. I don't think we need to buy as many shiny surfaces, and it is still possible to use a text-and-talk phone or go for a slower walk with no purpose; help fund a public library.’
Graham Little, Untitled (Fox), 2017
This slower philosophy is encapsulated in the melancholic works casting historic fashion photography in muted tunes, presenting a complex rethinking of both femininity and domesticity. ‘I am still trying to manage a misunderstanding of femininity,’ says Little. ‘I am uncertain.’
Graham Little, Untitled (Parlour), 2014
Graham Little is at the FLAG Art Foundation, New York, until 4 May 2024
-
How to elevate a rental with minimal interventions? Charu Gandhi has nailed it with her London homeFocus on key spaces, work with inherited details, and go big on colour and texture, says Gandhi, an interior designer set on beautifying her tired rental
-
These fashion books, all released in 2025, are the perfect gift for style fansChosen by the Wallpaper* style editors to inspire, intrigue and delight, these visually enticing tomes for your fashion library span from lush surveys on Loewe and Louis Vuitton to the rebellious style of Rick Owens and Jean Paul Gaultier
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekFar from slowing down for the festive season, the Wallpaper* team is in full swing, hopping from events to openings this week. Sometimes work can feel like play – and we also had time for some festive cocktails and cinematic releases
-
Nadia Lee Cohen distils a distant American memory into an unflinching new photo book‘Holy Ohio’ documents the British photographer and filmmaker’s personal journey as she reconnects with distant family and her earliest American memories
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt’s been a week of escapism: daydreams of Ghana sparked by lively local projects, glimpses of Tokyo on nostalgic film rolls, and a charming foray into the heart of Christmas as the festive season kicks off in earnest
-
Ed Ruscha’s foray into chocolate is sweet, smart and very AmericanArt and chocolate combine deliciously in ‘Made in California’, a project from the artist with andSons Chocolatiers
-
Inside the work of photographer Seydou Keïta, who captured portraits across West Africa‘Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens’, an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, celebrates the 20th-century photographer
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekFrom sumo wrestling to Singaporean fare, medieval manuscripts to magnetic exhibitions, the Wallpaper* team have traversed the length and breadth of culture in the capital this week
-
María Berrío creates fantastical worlds from Japanese-paper collages in New YorkNew York-based Colombian artist María Berrío explores a love of folklore and myth in delicate and colourful works on paper
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekAs we approach Frieze, our editors have been trawling the capital's galleries. Elsewhere: a 'Wineglass' marathon, a must-see film, and a visit to a science museum
-
June Leaf’s New York survey captures a life in motionJune Leaf made art in many forms for over seven decades, with an unstoppable energy and fierce appetite leading her to rationalise life in her own terms.
