Still Life

American photographer Philip-lorca dicorcia’s cinematic shots merge fact and fiction, the opulent and the ordinary. This month they’re coming to Hong Kong

American photographer Philip-lorca dicorcia’s cinematic shots merge fact and fiction, the opulent and the ordinary. This month they’re coming to Hong Kong

Disappointment, Philip-lorca dicorcia has said, is the overwhelming emotion most people feel after looking at his photographs. This self-deprecating comment doesn’t refer to the intriguing composition or golden lighting that define Dicorcia’s shots, but his observation of gallerygoers’ gradual realisation that all is not as it seems in his suspiciously perfect pictures. Did that blonde, wavy-haired surfer happen to be sitting on a Los Angeles street when Dicorcia walked by, or was the shot staged? Was that bored-looking commuter really sitting on the subway clutching that goldfish in a plastic bag, or was it all a set-up?

The answers are never clear-cut. New York-based

Dicorcia has dedicated his career to playing with one of the central ideas of photography—that, give or take a little Photoshop, the camera captures reality. For some series, he pays people to pose in photos that at first glance appear to be snapshots of everyday life. In others, Dicorcia sets up his camera and elaborate lighting on city streets, then waits for passersby to wander into the frame, unwittingly becoming stars of his shots.

Dicorcia’s key series are being exhibited in Hong Kong this month at David Zwirner, which is hosting a survey show from September 10 to October 12, looking back at his career so far. Among the subjects are rent boys, suited office workers and a bride doing a spot of DIY. Look closely and you may be surprised, but you’re unlikely to be disappointed.

Above and left: From 1997 to 2008, Dicorcia worked on multiple photographic essays for W magazine, often featuring the most in-demand models posing in the latest designer clothes in gritty, unexpected locations that rarely find their way into the pages of fashion magazines. Pictured here are “W, September 1997, #5” (1997) (left) and “W, November 2003, #12” (2003).

Above: Dicorcia’s first major success was his series Hustlers, for which he paid rent boys in Los Angeles the fee they’d normally charge a client to pose in one of his photos. The titles of the works indicate the name, age and place of birth of the subjects, as well as the fee they would charge for their sexual services. Pictured is “Brent Booth, 21 years old, Des Moines, Iowa, $30” (1990-1992).

Opposite page, top: An edition of this work, “Max” (1983), is in the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. As with many of Dicorcia’s early works, it features a seemingly ordinary moment that was, in reality, painstakingly staged by the artist. Above: “The Palace” (2015) is from the East of Eden series, which was inspired by the state of the US in the final years of George W Bush’s presidency.

Left and below: “New York” (1997) (left) and “Rome” (1996) are from Dicorcia’s Streetwork series. Throughout the mid-1990s, Dicorcia travelled around the world and took thousands of photographs of unsuspecting pedestrians using dramatic lighting more commonly used for big-budget fashion shoots or Hollywood films than street photography.