Craig Doty
Ever since greg.org pointed out Choire Sicha's Artforum top ten list I've been a bit obsessed with the photography of Craig Doty. It's the kind of dark, homoerotic, narrative, adolescent poetry with just enough of a sick sexual twist to eat away at all the lingering high school fantasy and paranoia left from my childhood in the suburbs of Chicago.
Doty: "In my photographs I create my own fantasy world where these young men run rampant. The photographs revolve around central themes of masculinity, rebellious exploration, and youth ritual. In most of my work there appears to be little or no consequence for the actions taking place, hinting at a world in which conflict is self-generated and these young men have free reign of whatever they want to do."
While certain aspects of Doty's work draw comparisons to artists like Anthony Goicolea, Michael Meads, and Ryan McGinley, he captures the strangeness of teenage suburban rituals with an eerie sexual precision.
He's repped by the 1r Gallery in Chicago.
Posted Sep. 13,2004 at 11:37 PM EST by Andy Towle in Photography | Permalink
Not being a kiss-ass or anything, but I have found way more depth and emotion in your own photographs, Andy, than in Craig Doty's. Case in point: Doty's series on the crying boys...none of them seem genuine. No emotion. And some of the poses are very...posed.
Posted by: Gunther | Sep 14, 2004 9:16:51 AM
I like his website design. The best 'simple looking' design I've seen.
Posted by: Terence | Sep 14, 2004 11:24:07 AM
Well, I'm not one to go out of my way to criticize someone else's photography, probably because I am so self-critical of my own which I think is mediocre, but I have to agree with Gunther a bit on this. What doesn't come off as totally staged looks almost like mere snapshots that anyone at the Walmart photo lab might find in the stuff they develop each day, except that these are staged as well. Nothing to me looks real and honest and it just seems that the photographer had his hand in everything the subjects did in each pose, which to me takes away from the themes he says he was trying to explore. I think if you can assemble three or four male teens together...and just spend the day with them as a fly on the wall, you would get much more riveting shots than what I am seeing here. With the exception of the few natural looking shots (like the guys with the hose)I don't even find any of the work sexy at all. This is just my most humble opinion as a mediocre photographer. :)
Posted by: Patrick | Sep 14, 2004 12:16:25 PM
Milk Chugging? This needs to go on the next episode of Road Rules. MTV likes to make Roadies throw up.
Posted by: angelfire.com/sd/sublime | Sep 15, 2004 1:50:47 PM
I think the "milk chugging" is suppose to represent masturbation.
Posted by: Patrick | Sep 15, 2004 1:58:03 PM
Thank you for including Craig Doty in your article. I think he is the next great thing.
Posted by: Chris | Oct 8, 2004 3:47:44 AM