Nan GoldinJoey with Her New Breasts (NYC)1999
1999
About the Item
- Creator:Nan Goldin (1953, American)
- Creation Year:1999
- Dimensions:Height: 27.5 in (69.85 cm)Width: 40 in (101.6 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Toronto, CA
- Reference Number:
Nan Goldin
When Nan Goldin discovered a flourishing drag queen community as an 18-year-old navigating downtown Boston, it would mark the start of her widely influential photography career and lay the foundation of the seminal work that would follow years later — “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency,” an ongoing series of stark, flash-lit snapshots documenting her experiences with the LGBTQ+ scene, most notably during the AIDS epidemic.
Goldin was born in Washington, D.C., but raised in Massachusetts. She left home around age 13 or 14, moved into a commune and attended a free experimental high school called Satya Community School, where she began shooting Polaroids of herself as well as her classmates. She found inspiration in the work of Andy Warhol, Larry Clark, Diane Arbus, Weegee, August Sander and in the glossy pages of French and Italian Vogue. Goldin attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and moved to New York City soon after she graduated.
Goldin was particularly drawn to the avant-garde music scene in Manhattan in the late 1970s and early ’80s, and “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” would include many photos taken in her newly adopted city. Goldin first exhibited the series at the Whitney Biennial in 1985 before publishing it as a book a year later. In its startling honesty, Goldin’s gripping portraits captured sexual relationships, frank drug use, intimate scenes in the homes of families, partying at bars, domestic violence and the AIDS-related horrors faced by those in the era’s LGBTQ+ community. More than 700 images were featured in exhibitions over the years compared to the book’s 127 portraits.
“‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependency’ is the diary I let people read,” wrote Goldin. “The diary is my form of control over my life. It allows me to obsessively record every detail. It enables me to remember.”
Goldin also felt that the project was autobiographical in a way, though only some of the images were self-portraits. “These were the people I lived with, these were my friends, these were my family, this was myself. I’d photograph people dancing while I was dancing. Or people having sex while I was having sex. Or people drinking while I was drinking. There was no separation between me and what I was photographing,” she told Bomb magazine.
Over the years, Goldin has collaborated with Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki and completed projects for Jimmy Choo and Bottega Veneta. While her work has broadened to include New York City skylines, portraiture and commercial fashion photography, her commitment to documentary-style honesty has never wavered. In 2006, as part of Goldin’s "Chasing a Ghost” exhibit in New York City, a presentation was projected on three screens involving videos, photography and a musical collage focused on her older sister, Barbara, who took her own life in 1965.
Among Goldin’s many accolades are her admission to the French Legion of Honor in 2006, the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in 2007 and the Lucie Award in 2014.
Find a collection of original Nan Goldin photography on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Toronto, Canada
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- Chiro + TabletopBy Nobuyoshi ArakiLocated in Toronto, OntarioNobuyoshi Araki (b. 1940) is a renowned Japanese photographer acclaimed for his provocative style that blurs the line between fine art and pornography. With an oeuvre of over 450 ph...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Nude Photography
MaterialsPolaroid
- Bedside + FringeBy Nobuyoshi ArakiLocated in Toronto, OntarioNobuyoshi Araki (b. 1940) is a renowned Japanese photographer acclaimed for his provocative style that blurs the line between fine art and pornography. With an oeuvre of over 450 ph...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Nude Photography
MaterialsPolaroid
- Bar BackBy Attila Richard LukacsLocated in Toronto, OntarioAttila Richard Lukacs (b. 1962) is one of Canada's most distinctive if not revolutionary Canadian figurative painters. Lukacs established his reputation in the 1980s by creating astonishing large-scale paintings that depicted skinheads, construction workers, and other masculine archetypes in elaborate and erotic scenes. The physical presence of the Lukacs' male subjects stands out as one of the artist's most distinctive aesthetic elements. With meticulous attention to form and proportions, Lukacs skillfully renders his young men with expressive brushwork and an intense, moody palette reminiscent of the old masters. Despite the monumental scale of his canvases, Lukacs begins his creative process with a much more intimate and modern-day tool: the Polaroid. Because of its immediacy and simplicity, it became an essential part of his process in the 80's and 90's. As a result, the artist amassed a trove of over 1,200 Polaroids that depict lovers, friends, and anonymous models in various poses that serve as a starting point for his paintings. In this grid of Polaroids, "Bar Back" is a young man posing nude on top of a first aid kit. The exceptional warmth and rich hues infuse this series of 12 Polaroids with a sensual and painterly quality, a characteristic that is undoubtably present throughout the artist's oeuvre. From 2009-2012 a large touring exhibition devoted to Lukacs' Polaroids was shown at several museums across Canada including Museum London and the Art Gallery of Alberta. Working with Michael Morris...Category
1980s Contemporary Nude Photography
MaterialsPolaroid
- AlexBy Attila Richard LukacsLocated in Toronto, OntarioAttila Richard Lukacs (b. 1962) is one of Canada's most distinctive if not revolutionary Canadian figurative painters. Lukacs established his reputation in the 1980s by creating astonishing large-scale paintings that depicted skinheads, construction workers, and other masculine archetypes in elaborate and erotic scenes. The physical presence of the Lukacs' male subjects stands out as one of the artist's most distinctive aesthetic elements. With meticulous attention to form and proportions, Lukacs skillfully renders his young men with expressive brushwork and an intense, moody palette reminiscent of the old masters. Despite the monumental scale of his canvases, Lukacs begins his creative process with a much more intimate and modern day tool: the Polaroid. Because of its immediacy and simplicity it became an essential part of his process in the 80's and 90's. As a result the artist amassed a trove of over 1,200 Polaroids that depict lovers, friends, and anonymous models in a various poses that serve as a starting point for his paintings. In this grid of Polaroids, "Alex" is a young man posing nude on top of a tarp. The exceptional warmth and rich hues infuse this series of 12 Polaroids with a sensual and painterly quality, a characteristic that is undoubtably present throughout the artist's oeuvre. From 2009-2012 a large touring exhibition devoted to Lukacs' Polaroids was shown at several museums across Canada including Museum London and the Art Gallery of Alberta. Working with Michael Morris...Category
1980s Contemporary Nude Photography
MaterialsPolaroid
- For F From FBy General IdeaLocated in Toronto, OntarioIn 1967, General Idea was founded in Toronto by AA Bronson (b. 1946), Felix Partz (1945-1994), and Jorge Zontal (1944-1994). Over the course of 25 years, they made a significant cont...Category
1970s Conceptual Nude Photography
MaterialsPolaroid
- Prunella and SylvieBy Helmut NewtonLocated in Toronto, OntarioHelmut Newton (1920-2004) was one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century, known for his unflinching, heavily eroticized images of women. Born in 1920 in Berlin, Newton’...Category
1970s Surrealist Nude Photography
MaterialsPolaroid
- "Goddess and Lilies No 3" Photography, Archival Ink on Aluminum, Figurative NudeBy Indira CesarineLocated in New York, NYGoddess Series featuring dancer Katherine Crockett Dimensions: 9 x 12in (Limited Edition 2/15), 12 x 18in (Limited Edition 2/10) This piece is sign...Category
2010s Contemporary Photography
MaterialsMetal
- Dye Transfer StudyBy Robert GrahamLocated in Roma, ITDye Transfer Study is an original artwork realized by Robert Graham in 1970. It is a silver print photographic contact sheet, handcolored with pink acryli...Category
1970s Contemporary Nude Photography
MaterialsDye Transfer
- Woman in ReedsBy John MazlishLocated in Brooklyn, NYShot amongst cattails on Long Island, NY. Fine art photo mounted on di-bond aluminum. Custom printing/mounting/framing options available upon request.Category
2010s Contemporary Nude Photography
MaterialsMetal
- "Flashburn II" Photography, Dye Sublimation on Aluminum, Glossy FinishLocated in New York, NYLimited Edition of 5 This piece is signed on verso, includes gallery label, and certificate of authenticity. Leah Schrager is an artist who works between the web and New York City. She graduated in 2015 with an MFA in Fine Art from Parsons, The New School. In her work, she photographs, appears in, augments and markets her own image. She is interested in the line, movement and, biography of the female body. In 2010, she founded a new form of therapy as Sarah White, The Naked Therapist, followed by online performance @OnaArtist (Instagram 3 million+). Her project, “Ona,” an artist and musician, evolved out of the question of celebrity as art practice. With her performances, Schrager explores themes of sexuality, representation, and distribution. Her practice is situated in a contemporary hotbed of female (in)appropriateness, arousal, celebrity, fandom, and commercialism that seeks to explore female biography and labor in today’s global society. Schrager has been compared by journalists to such seminal figures as Marina Abramovic, Marcel Duchamp, Laurel Nakadate, Diane Fossey, and Sigmund Freud. She and/or her work has been profiled in 1000′s of media outlets, including Art Forum, Monopol, The Huffington Post, Vice, Viceland, The Tonight Show...Category
2010s Contemporary Photography
MaterialsMetal
- "Clothed in May" Photography, Dye Sublimation on Aluminum, Glossy FinishLocated in New York, NYLimited Edition of 5 This piece is signed on verso, includes gallery label, and certificate of authenticity. Leah Schrager is an artist who works between the web and New York City. She graduated in 2015 with an MFA in Fine Art from Parsons, The New School. In her work, she photographs, appears in, augments and markets her own image. She is interested in the line, movement and, biography of the female body. In 2010, she founded a new form of therapy as Sarah White, The Naked Therapist, followed by online performance @OnaArtist (Instagram 3 million+). Her project, “Ona,” an artist and musician, evolved out of the question of celebrity as art practice. With her performances, Schrager explores themes of sexuality, representation, and distribution. Her practice is situated in a contemporary hotbed of female (in)appropriateness, arousal, celebrity, fandom, and commercialism that seeks to explore female biography and labor in today’s global society. Schrager has been compared by journalists to such seminal figures as Marina Abramovic, Marcel Duchamp, Laurel Nakadate, Diane Fossey, and Sigmund Freud. She and/or her work has been profiled in 1000′s of media outlets, including Art Forum, Monopol, The Huffington Post, Vice, Viceland, The Tonight Show...Category
2010s Contemporary Photography
MaterialsMetal
- "Day Is Done"- Black & White Silhouette, Sensual Photo, Holbox, MexicoBy John MazlishLocated in Brooklyn, NYShot on Holbox Island, Mexico. Fine art photo mounted on di-bond aluminum. Custom printing/mounting/framing options available upon request.Category
2010s Contemporary Black and White Photography
MaterialsMetal