One afternoon in 1997 I was drawing the inside of a church for an art-school assignment. I was never really that good at drawing and I've always loved to cheat, so I got an idea. I went down to the pharmacy and bought a camera. I took some pictures of the church, got them developed, projected them, traced the image, and got an A+. That's really when I started taking photographs. You can figure out the rest. So Vice asked me to do a portfolio of hugs and kisses. I've been living in the same apartment in the East Village just about as long as I've been making pictures. I made this collage the last week of living on 7th Street. I went through 7,000 contact sheets––that's 250,000 photographs. I chose the ones that meant the most to me—the real snapshots, the magic memories.
They were made running around NYC every night with my camera, out at clubs, in people's apartments, outtakes from photo shoots, family events…
I tried to include everybody, my parents are in there being the old-timers, people who are alive, people who are dead, people who have moved to the city and left, and people who have been by my side forever.
Hugs and kisses was perfect, because that's a big part of my photographs. To love your friends and have sex and make out and always have fun. agnes b. made this possible, and I'd like to thank her for knowing that young artists need a hand and for always being so cool. Vice was one of the first magazines to publish my work, and I love them for that. I'd also like everyone to know I'll be having my next exhibition at P.S.1/MoMA, June 27–September 30. Come out and see the show. OK, cool.
Always,
Ryan McGinley
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