The McGinley Hype Machine

The Ryan McGinley hype machine has been operating full tilt over the past weeks, so it was only a matter of time before the backlash began. Metropolitan Museum of Art research associate Mia Fineman has written an essay for Slate (another one of their annoying slide show essays) that questions the longitudinal value of McGinley's work and whether the commercial nature of this work devalues it as art.

This line, to me, is as imaginary as a national boundary. It's there in our minds, but you can't actually see it even when you walk right up to it. Film, for instance, is considered to be art, despite its commercial aspects. So why not commercial photography? It's not as if there is not a monetary component attached to photographs created purely for the gallery market.

(via muse-ings)