Ryan McGinley's Nocturnal New York: 'Night Shift' at Jeffrey Deitch

Ryan McGinley, who made history at 25 as one of the youngest artists with a solo show at the Whitney Museum, returns to New York with his first exhibition in nearly a decade. Titled 'Night Shift,' the show at Jeffrey Deitch through August 8 features photographs taken exclusively between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., revisiting a gimmick from his earliest series. The images capture a nocturnal crawl through all five boroughs, from Coney Island to Lincoln Center, punctuated by nude bodies—a McGinley signature—that inject vulnerability and hilarity into dormant urban infrastructure. McGinley, who studied at Parsons in the late '90s, once advised graduates to 'approach art like it's your job.' In a studio visit interview, he revealed his process: he works at night, shows new work to legendary photo editor Kathy Ryan, and cites Robert Mapplethorpe as the artist he'd most want a studio visit with. He also noted that Nan Goldin visits his studio to see his dog first, then his photos. The weirdest studio visit he experienced was when a Verizon technician installing Wi-Fi critiqued his work on the wall.