David Theodore Lane; 27 years old; Tuscon, Arizona; $30
Philip-Lorca diCorcia
American, born 1951
1990-92
A cinematic chromogenic color photograph of a shirtless young man seated on a motel bed, staged and lit to collapse documentary realism and theatrical artifice.
You're immediately struck by the harsh, centered spotlight on the figure's torso as his raised hand hides his face between two warm bedside lamps, making the small room feel both intimate and ominous.
Part of diCorcia's influential work that melded street portraiture with staged lighting, it challenged the boundary between candid truth and constructed image and helped redefine how contemporary photographers use cinematic staging to probe privacy and spectacle.
Medium
Chromogenic print
Dimensions
25 1/4 × 37 11/16" (64.2 × 95.8 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Carol and Arthur Goldberg
Accession
1195.2001.x1-x2
Palette
Exhibitions
