Larry Fink began his career cultivating an appreciation for vogue and social spectacle. Party photographers often act as biased observers, paid to play back an image the attendees have purposefully crafted. This New York artist’s greatest talent is his ability to peel back a layer of bravado and splay open these orchestrated affairs, exposing some element of truth. Social Graces, the collection from which this photograph comes, explores the nature of both high- and low-class culture as embodied in the composed behavior of Manhattan aristocracy and images of the Pennsylvanian working class. The outstretched hands pressed to lips, unbuttoned shirts and moist hair, all lit by flash, depict a more promiscuous encounter than the façade upheld by the typically pristine, respectable upper class.

Chelsea Fusco, SCR 2016

signed, titled and dated in pencil on mount verso.

vintage gelatin silver print

This object has the following keywords:

• Portraits

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