Buck Ellison's Empathetic Portraits of the 1% at Whitney Biennial

Buck Ellison's photographs at the Whitney Biennial 2022 probe the codes of America's ultra-wealthy, using cognitive empathy to humanize figures like Erik Prince and Betsy DeVos. His series 'Little Brother' (2021–22) reconstructs Prince's life through an actor, revealing details like his marriage, affair, and Blackwater's Nisour Square Massacre. Ellison's commercial idiom—well-lit, staged tableaux—contrasts with dense titles referencing tax structures and investment vehicles. Works like 'Fog, In His Light We Shall See The Light' (2021) layer artifacts (military photos, conservative college caps) to create abstract portraits. The artist, a Los Angeles-based conceptual photographer, explores how desire persists despite distasteful context, as in 'Coastal Access Line, Carbon Beach, Malibu' (2015), which documents Billionaire's Beach. Ellison's work speaks to a privileged artworld audience familiar with lacrosse and prep brands like Vineyard Vines, yet resonates globally through ingrained aesthetic tropes of aristocracy and advertising. The Biennial runs through September 5.