Philip-Lorca diCorcia: ICA Exhbition, New Book, Etc.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Ike Cole, 38 years old, Los Angeles, CA, $25, 1990-92
© Philip-Lorca diCorcia
I recently heard the news that Philip-Lorca diCorcia will be having a major retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Those of you in the Boston area may want to mark your calendars: June 1 - September 3.
The largest museum survey of diCorcia’s work to date, this exhibition includes more than 100 prints from the late 1970s to today, touching on all of his acclaimed bodies of work, from early interior tableaux to Hustlers, Streetwork, and A Storybook Life.
– ICA
Next to Nan Goldin, “PL” diCorcia is among the few star arists to attend the Museum School. I’ve apprecaited his work since the day that I first learned about it, his mastery of light and portraiture, and seeing so many of his images all together in person is something that I’m looking forward to.
Thousand
© Philip-Lorca diCorcia
In other news, Steidl will be publishing a new book of diCorcia’s polaroids titled Thousand. I was very surprised to see this come out — in the same way, maybe, that I was surprised by Gregory Crewdson’s Fireflies.
The small, thick book features exactly 1000 Polaroids, which I’ve come to find out were not completely aranged by diCorcia himself. Sequencing of the future?
With Thousand, diCorcia inverts his own tendency: the monograph is now the work itself. The sheer volume of material, which spans over 20 years of personal and artistic creation, challenges the notion that editorial power can establish context and narrative. Any attempt to logically order the images proved futile. In this case, rather than conscious design creating rigid form, a computer-generated randomization determined order. DiCorcia assigned each Polaroid a value, which served as input for the computer-generated sequence; the randomized sequence provided the layout.
Not sure about this one. But if you are, you can pre-order a copy or, otherwise, just wait for it on the shelves.
Also, if you didn’t already see this on Christian’s blog, take a look at diCorcia’s recent photograph in the New York Times Magazine of heavyweight boxer Shannon Briggs.
