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01: Eddie Anderson, 21 years old, Houston, Texas, $20, 1990-92 [#image: /photos/558288d81177d66d68d51d47]||||||
02: Major Tom, 20 years old, Kansas City, Kansas, $20, 1990-92 [#image: /photos/558288d81177d66d68d51d43]||||||
03: Mike Vincetti, 24 years old, New York, New York, $30, 1990-92 [#image: /photos/558288d81177d66d68d51d45]||||||
04: David Theodore, 27 years old, Tuscon, Arizona, $30, 1990-92 [#image: /photos/558288d8e52bc4b477a96ffe]||||||
05: Tim, 27 years old, Orange County, California, $30, 1990
Twenty years ago the photographer Philip-Lorca diCorcia came up with an idea for a series of pictures based on a simple business transaction. Armed with cash from an NEA grant, diCorcia set out to cast male prostitutes in Hollywood for a new series of pictures. DiCorcia prowled Santa Monica Boulevard for his subjects and paid them approximately the same amount they would have asked for their sexual services.
At first diCorcia photographed his subjects in environments where services were typically rendered, hotels and motels. He later expanded the series to create fictional narratives within LA landscapes with the prostitutes. The Los Angeles in diCorcia’s pictures becomes an almost cinematic staging ground for these displaced men, many of whom ended up there following lost Hollywood dreams.
Each photograph is titled with the prostitute’s first name, age, birth place and the amount diCorcia paid for their participation with his shoot. DiCorcia originally wanted to call the series "Trade", gay slang for a male prostitute, but now two decades later the series has become know as "Hustlers".
"Hustlers" is being exhibited now until November 2nd at the David Zwirner gallery and published in a new book by Steidldangin. There will be a book signing with the photographer at David Zwirner gallery on October 19.