Larry Clark - photography

The photographic works by the American artist Larry Clark in the Vienna Secession were created between 1992 and 1995 and are unusual in many respects. Not only do they represent the first series of colour photographs to be pub-lished by Clark (his earlier series were in black and white), but they also feature the photographic series that was created immediately before the shooting of his film "Kids", which meet with a great media interest when it was shown in cinemas in 1995.

Compared to his earlier photographic works such as "Tulsa" (1971), which appeared in book form and established his reputation as a photographic artist, and "Teenage Lust" (1983/87), more recent works seem to be more arbitrary snapshots of youth culture. While the youths in "Tulsa" and "Teenage Lust" often seem in their nudity and sexuality to be a mis en scene of beautiful, coolly­independent young people, their more recent counterparts form a group of effusive and gesticulating youths ­ often with skateboards ­ that seem to have entered the picture as if by chance. The pictures were largely taken in Washington Square in Manhattan, one of the central meeting points of New York City, which is also of special significance to the film, Kids". As in Clark's earlier projects, the most recent series of photographs is an almost anthropological investigation of teenage culture.

Youth and sexuality, the weapons and implements for consuming drugs, that were so prominent in "Tulsa" and "Teenage Lust" are also present in all of these documents. One to two decades further on, it seems no longer necessary to deal photographically with their meaning and repercussions. Nor do these kids ­ by any means ­ seem to be gauche or naive. Whether with or without skateboards, they are in constant motion and know how to make an impression and the tricks of how to please.

Larry Clark
photography