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I was growing up in the suburbs I was one of eight kids. So I did have a community when I was younger, but all of my brothers and sisters were older.

Ryan McGinley

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Ryan McGinley
Age: 47
Born: 1977
Born: October 17
Photographer
Ramsey
New Jersey
Older
Brother
Growing
Community
Suburbs
Kids
Sisters
Brothers
Younger
Eight

More quotes by Ryan McGinley

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A lot of people, even my parents, thought, Art school, I don't know. We'll support you but the success rate for artists is really slim.
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I want to venture into film more, and I think that a nice way to transition into doing that would be a documentary. I think it would be interesting to find one person that really fascinated me or maybe a band and travel with them, but I don't think I could do it like I used to do it.
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I'm interested in reaching the masses with my work. It's one of my goals.
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You find the people that you need to find. There's this gravitational pull.
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All I do is make photos. It's my life.
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I'm always interested in an atmosphere where dreams and reality mingle on equal terms.
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Most of the e-mails I get nowadays are from students who ask me how I got my start. In truth its from having a really supportive family but also having a good patron who will help you - like financing all those early trips I took.
Ryan McGinley
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Everyone I'm photographing, I feel like I'm remaking a family, in a way. My brothers and sisters are my heroes. So many of my models resemble them.
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Just being friends with people now for over 15 years, you realize what we all came out of. What we came out of was the intense feeling of growing up. It sounds kind of cliché, but it's true.
Ryan McGinley
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There was no luxury. I never got on an airplane until I was 18. We drove everywhere. My dad was like, Waste not, want not.
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A lot of my close friends have committed suicide or died of heroin overdoses.
Ryan McGinley
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I think that's an important lesson for young people who want to be artists: You have to find someone who believes in you and who will help you find that time where you don't have to think about a job but just making work. If I didn't have those people in my life, I wouldn't be in the position I'm in.
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I went through a pretty big David Bowie period when I was younger, and that has affected me profoundly in my life and my work.
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I put all of my time into art because I couldn't go back to Jersey and work at Starbucks.
Ryan McGinley
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Just having the camera, being able to pull back from situations and be an observer, it saved my life... I realised I could find these intimate moments and that people trusted me. That, basically, my camera was magic.
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I know that my mind is so A.D.D., and I want instant gratification - and photography can provide me with that - but at some point, I want to make an independent feature.
Ryan McGinley
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All my work, really, is based on my brothers and sisters. I had so many adventures with them and a big part of the work is to recreate those. It's easy for me to be around a lot of people, because I can retreat. I can watch everything.
Ryan McGinley
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In a lot of ways I look at these old photos, and I don't know if I would have been able to communicate with these people on this level if I didn't have a camera. I think I would still be so shy.
Ryan McGinley
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I think a lot about control nowadays, and I really want to let go and just be more in the moment.
Ryan McGinley
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I was studying graphic design at the time, when negative scanners and all that stuff was coming out, and you could do it all in your apartment. So I would shoot, make contact sheets, scan all the cool negatives, and make all these zines and books of my photos to give to my friends. I was really into zine- and bookmaking from skate culture.
Ryan McGinley