Seasons change: new works by Ryan McGinley show a fresh direction

It's easy to forget that Ryan McGinley began taking photographs a decade ago, before the mass proliferation of image making and sharing in the wake of social media platforms. McGinley’s photographic voice, informed by memories of his older siblings and their friends, and the death of his older brother when McGinley was just 17, has been emulated by many young photographers in recent years, revered for their atmosphere of nostalgia, caprice and transience – and their absence of cynicism. The New York-based artist’s preternatural nudes are visions of an American utopia of youth.
McGinley’s concurrent exhibitions at Team (gallery, inc.) – Fall, in Los Angeles and Winter, in New York – present a shift in the artist’s practice, moving away from his iconic Road Trip imagery. The nude has always been central in McGinley’s oeuvre, but in these new images, his interest in the body as pure form and movement is more salient than previously. Inspired by the romantic style of the Hudson River painters in the Northwest, the lush archetypal seasonal settings scintillate through McGinley’s lens.
In large-scale works such as Sugar, Paul (Frederic) and Deep Well, (all editions of three, 2015, and on show in Los Angeles) the juxtaposition between the rich fall colors and the almost abstracted body - both temporary and transitional in their photographed state – conjures that fleeting feeling that typifies McGinley’s work, but here it is offered with greater confidence, without the immediate invitation to narrate the image that earlier works often elicit.
Surprisingly, this is McGinley’s first solo presentation in Los Angeles, at the Team gallery’s bungalow space in Venice – on view until 20 December.
The nude has always been central in McGinley’s oeuvre, but in these new images, his interest in the body as pure form and movement is more salient than previously shown. Pictured: Ivy, Judds Cherry, 2015
Inspired by the romantic style of the Hudson River painters in the Northwest, the lush archetypal seasonal settings scintillate through McGinley’s lens. Pictured: Kaaterskill Falls, 2015 (left) and Piss Falls, 2015 (right)
In large-scale works such as Deep Well, 2015 (pictured), the juxtaposition between the rich fall colors and the almost abstracted body conjures that fleeting feeling that typifies McGinley’s work
Surprisingly, Fall is McGinley’s first solo presentation in Los Angeles, at the Team gallery’s bungalow space in Venice. Pictured: Big Leaf Maple, 2015 (left) and Dogbane, 2015 (right)
Peepers, 2015
INFORMATION
Winter is now on view until 20 December at Team gallery in New York and Fall is on view until 20 December in Los Angeles
Photography courtesy of the artist and Team gallery
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Charlotte Jansen is a journalist and the author of two books on photography, Girl on Girl (2017) and Photography Now (2021). She is commissioning editor at Elephant magazine and has written on contemporary art and culture for The Guardian, the Financial Times, ELLE, the British Journal of Photography, Frieze and Artsy. Jansen is also presenter of Dior Talks podcast series, The Female Gaze.
-
Step inside a Hollywood Hills home where European design meets Californian ease
LA studio Broad Project takes us inside its cinematic renovation of a 1960s Spanish Revival home in the Hollywood Hills
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Jnane Rumi: clarity, reflection and connection
In the quiet tranquillity of Marrakech’s Palmeraie, Jnane Rumi evokes a rich and colourful tapestry of Moroccan art, craftsmanship and design
-
Cindy Sherman in Menorca: ‘She's decades ahead of social media and the construction of identity for the camera’
‘Cindy Sherman: The Women’, its title a nod to an image-conscious 1930s Broadway hit, takes the American artist's carefully constructed, highly performative works to Hauser & Wirth Menorca
-
‘Her pictures looked like pictures everybody knew were the truth’: Diane Arbus at the Armory
Matthieu Humery curates more than 400 of Arbus’ photographs at New York’s Park Avenue Armory – every picture she was known to have printed
-
Mystic, feminine and erotic: the power of Penny Slinger’s bodies as landscape
Artist Penny Slinger continues her exploration of the sacred, surreal feminine in a Santa Monica exhibition, ‘Meeting at the Horizon’
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
It was a jam-packed week for the Wallpaper* staff, entailing furniture, tech and music launches and lots of good food – from afternoon tea to omakase
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this week
This week saw the Wallpaper* team jet-setting to Jordan and New York; those of us left in London had to make do with being transported via the power of music at rooftop bars, live sets and hologram performances
-
Photographer Geordie Wood takes a leap of faith with first film, Divers
Geordie Wood delved into the world of professional diving in Fort Lauderdale for his first film
-
New book celebrates 100 years of New York City landmarks where LGBTQ+ history took place
Marc Zinaman’s ‘Queer Happened Here: 100 Years of NYC’s Landmark LGBTQ+ Places’ is a vital tribute to queer culture
-
A major Takashi Murakami exhibition sees the world in kaleidoscopic colour
The Cleveland Art Museum presents 'Takashi Murakami 'Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow', exploring outrage and escapist fantasy
-
Ai Weiwei’s new public installation is coming soon to Four Freedoms State Park
‘Camouflage’ by Ai Weiwei will launch the inaugural Art X Freedom project in September 2025, a new programme to investigate social justice and freedom