Meet Gilles Larrain’s Idols
By
August 1, 2011
“I moved to New York City because of people like this,” says Ryan McGinley in his introduction to the outrageous personalities depicted by Gilles Larrain in his monograph Idols (PowerHouse), set for release late September in conjunction with an exhibit at Steven Kasher Gallery in New York. Audacious and glamorous, Larrain’s book unfolds as a retrospective of 1970s New York style and attitude. Larrain’s photographs document countless hours spent in his Soho studio, and offer an intimate view of those part of the early years of the gay rights movement.
Living in Vietnam, Chile, Argentina, Canada, France and America, Larrain’s ever-changing environments demanded he learn a variety of languages. His constant grapple with communication, expression, and curiosity is a driving force behind his pursuit of art. Populated by what McGinley calls “the art crowd… the weirdos, and the freaks” the tableaux in Idols celebrate the common language of façade, glitter, and the pose.
