John Waters, when asked about the comparisons between his movie Pecker and Ryan McGinley's near identical rise to fame half a decade later responded with, "the difference is that Ryan wasn't naive." No Ryan wasn't. He still isn't. Nothing made this more apparent to me than his encouragement of Ryan Foerster. Foerster's work unabashedly is a follow up to McGinley's. VBS.tv's documentary on Foerster shows him encouraging the all too familiar fireworks and young prettys dancing formula as a mode of production. The idea that his work is a take on the Group of Seven is a cute nationalistic shout out, but even the art-historically informed Vice comment-leaver can distinguish his lineage being McGinley > Richardson, Alleged Gallery > Tillmans > Goldin, Armstrong / 70's porn > Clark and maybe late 19th century impressionist photography. There is no doubt in my mind former Vice photo editor, routine Vice cover artist and king socialite McGinley could banish Foerster to the depths of the unknown, expelling him from his recent Vice publicity spree. Or maybe he could stop someone like Jonnie Craig from shooting all the fashion advertisements for Vice? Of course he could- but it would be a little like Coke suing Coke One for taste infringement. McGinley's promotion of people who are directly embracing what he did a year before is his true stroke of marketing genius. Like a corporation, McGinley went public with his encouragement of copycat artists. In doing so he spread the liability of the inevitable artistic backlash to his popularity even wider. But more importantly, by being the promoter of a style he helped raise to fruition he made every artist to follow after him a product of his own design. Promoting someone becomes an indirect measure of who was there first and who was in the position of power to lift the other up. All those promoted thereafter carry with them a permanent "made in McGinleyland" tag stitched in the back of their shirt- as though the emulation of style alone wasn't obvious enough of an indicator. These artists then become defacto commercials for McGinley. Every single time someone sees Ryan Foerester's work in Vice and utters the inevitable "this dude looks like Ryan Mcginley's stuff" it isn't bad- it's GOOD for McGinley. If McGinley did ALL of those fashion shoots that Vice sets up copycat photographers to do, or if he was in every documentary they did people would get tired of his name. McGinley flips being played out to being a ubiquitous object of envy. It also serves as a "this isn't a individual, this is a movement" kind of validator. I'm increasingly more and more of a fan of Ryan's work because of his shift from bohemian cool to timeless abstract portraits depicting the joy of youth. What's also interesting to me is this movement that has spawned from McGinley's practice. The idea of travel seems integral, a sort of way of automating how bohemian a picture is. "This isn't just a picture of a friend, I had to go to SAN FRANSISCO to take this!" I say this lovingly, seeing the merit in taking yourself outside of your comfort zone. The difference between McGinley's road trip as an abstract symbol for teenage exploration and uninhibited fun is that his pictures are constructions while those who are part of the movement that came as an offshoot of his work are truly kids taking a road trip. They are the sincere examples of the construction McGinley seeks to abstractly represent. I value this work for that reason. The fact that most have a non-art related way of making a living that supports their true love - going out and having fun taking pictures- is admirable. A collector didn't stuff an extra 10 g's in any of these kids pockets for the road, they probably sold extra bike parts on e-Bay just for gas money. In terms of production and organization, this movement is remarkably similar to the American hardcore movement of the 80's. Barely organized tours were put together by all the hardcore kids in one city. A band from LA could go to DC and live with them for a few nights while they played in their city. The kids they stayed with were also in bands. The shows they played were attended by all the other bands who would later play that same night. It was for them about them supported by them. The songs where often about their experiences on the road or other bands they were touring with. It was entirely self encompassing. The movement never transcended (and had no intention to) get bigger than what it was or who it was for. I see this in the way my friends take turns traveling to each other's homes, shooting one another and then presenting the work to one another. The hardcore kids had it right, though. They knew they would never be stars doing what they did- and many of them were doing the same thing. So much so there were standard covers which most all of the bands would include in their sets- songs like Wire's 12XU. They all played a few songs as a medium for each band to establish their style in an easily comparable way. It might be hard to decipher two bands playing at light speed screaming their lungs out, but you may be able to get the nuances of this band full of sweaty teens if you compare their version of Johnny B Goode to the next's. This system of covers in the hardcore movement is analogous to the way similar people are shot over and over but in different ways by this photographic movement. They're called muses. When 5 people shoot the same person, take the lovely Coley for example, we're able to see each person's style pronounced because we've isolated the most distracting variable- the subject. The hardcore movement put a large emphasis on the moment of release and the camaraderie shared in helping each other achieve that feeling. The point of this traveling photography movement should not be the photography at all. The fact that pictures are taken should be entirely consequential. The value shouldn't be placed on the shots developed when we get home, but what was impossible to record in the first place. The niche McGinley has carved for himself in the art world can never be had by any of us, but what McGinley lusts after and obsesses over holding on to is what we drink from our cups currently dipped in the fountain of youth. Being young, having fun and living for one another aren't romanticized abstractions for us, they're the freedoms that we should make the most of while we have them. Don't worry about making Ryan's pictures- you're probably already living it.

ANDREW OF DAVE