Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Brent Booth; 21 Years Old; Des Moines, Iowa; $30

Brent Booth; 21 Years Old; Des Moines, Iowa; $30 is a color photograph by Philip-Lorca diCorcia and part of the artist’s photographic series Hustlers or Hollywood. For this series, diCorcia hired sex workers as models who he then posed in hotel rooms and other exterior urban settings according to pre-planned scenarios. In exchange, diCorcia would pay the model the same amount they charge their clients for sexual services. In this particular photograph a young man sits at a road-side rest stop, cast in high-contrast light and shadow that emphasizes his blank stare, platinum blonde mullet, and turquoise blue t-shirt. The subject appears almost catatonic, disconnected from the present moment, while a large Pepsi-brand cup acutely reminds the viewer of the time and place as 1990s-era mid-America. As in much of the artist’s work, immobility is a constant, psychological tension and dramatic equilibrium define his photographs. The artist makes stylistic references to Hollywood cinema and advertising in his highly constructed images. The descriptive title of the work, which lists diCorcia subject’s first name, surname, age, place, and fee, manifests a heightened awareness of project parameters and the nature of the photographic act. Though the artist makes no reference to his subjects’ profession in the images, a political dimension is inherent in the work, taking into account that the series was executed with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) at a time in which American politics were deeply conservative and sex-negative.