Quantcast
Channel: Opening Ceremony RSS - ocblog
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 5010

Ryan McGinley Gives A+ Commencement Speech

$
0
0
Last month, OC BFF and photography wunderkind RYAN MCGINLEY began his Parsons COMMENCEMENT SPEECH, where he studied graphic design in the late '90s, with a well-timed joke: "Everyone always says that I'm supposed to picture you guys naked. It's supposed to calm my nerves, right, but it would just be another day at work for me, so..."

While the audience laughed, McGinley, 36, went on, crafting a brilliant and affecting speech about inspiring young photographers, finding a unique lens, and creating "an artistic world that we can enter into." Here, McGinley's studio coordinator Kareem Allen asks the man of the hour a few questions for OC. 

KAREEM ALLEN:
 Where did you work in college? 
RYAN MCGINLEY: I had some of my first photo assignments shooting for Index Magazine, and became the photo editor for Vice while I was still studying at Parsons.

Who else was in your class at Parsons? 
Jack McCollough from Proenza Schouler was in my grade. I remember he wore ringer T-shirts and his boyfriend was a ballet dancer.

Who were your some of favorite teachers?
My favorite teacher at Parsons was George Pitts; I talked a lot about him in my commencement speech. Early in school, I met an artist named Jack Walls who taught me what my teachers couldn’t. He taught me about the street. He was a poet and a retired gangbanger from Chicago. We’d walk around and he’d say, “That’s Stonewall, where the riots happened in ‘69," or, “Look up there through that arched window! That’s where Jean-Michel Basquiat painted and died,” and, “This is where Robert Mapplethorpe had his first studio," “That green building is where Robert Frank has lived for over 30 years," “Do you know the history of CBGB?” “That’s the St. Mark's Church where Patti Smith did her first poetry reading,” “That big building is The Bunker where William Burroughs lived!” He educated me on the history of punk and Downtown NY. Throughout my college years, Jack also taught me how to drink all night; we had some fun times.

Tell us about you first photographs. What were they like?
I consider my first photographs to be my skateboard videos I would make of my friends. I saved up to buy a fisheye lens and a Sony HandyCam. After school, I’d film my friends trying to do a sequence of tricks in a row, and then repeat it all day until we got it right. The skateboard tape was essentially an art book of all our greatest hits.

What’s up now?
Right now, I have a show up at Galerie Perrotin in Hong Kong. It’s called Vertical Color of Sound and runs through Jun 21. 

And what's next, after that?
My next show at Team Gallery will be called Yearbook and will run from September 7 through October 12.




Ryan McGinley Photo taken at Sears Portrait Studio

Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 5010

Trending Articles