Devlin Claro's 'Crushing' at Donald Ryan Gallery

Photographer Devlin Claro's exhibition 'Crushing' at Donald Ryan Gallery in New York presents staged photos of Queens as a microcosm of America. Born in 1995 and a fourth-generation New Yorker raised in Queens, Claro describes the borough as 'the middle world'—neither peripheral nor central. His images, some previously featured at MoMA PS1, capture tensions like economic instability, post-9/11 surveillance, and internet life. The title 'Crushing' alludes to being crushed, crushing it, or crushing on someone. Claro develops photos in his home darkroom in Flushing, sampling from art historical works (e.g., Paul Gauguin's 1888 'Vision After the Sermon') and authorless Tumblr images. One image references Justine Kurland's 1998 photograph; another depicts a ghost gun—a 3D-printed single-fire weapon from a dark web file. Claro engages with Mark Fisher's ideas about cancelled futures and uses the orange hue of New York's post-war sodium vapour street lights, now replaced by LEDs, which he links to surveillance. He sees America as amorphous and hybrid, expressing exhaustion yet hope. The exhibition runs until June 13, 2026.