Anthony Goicolea (born 1971) is a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

-based painter, fine art photographer,

drafter A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British English, British and English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman, drafting technician, or CAD technician in American English, American and Canadia ...

, and

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific art, site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior intervent ...

ist, born in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Work

Goicolea's photographs frequently deal with issues of

androgyny Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to Sex, biological sex or gender expression. When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics in humans, it oft ...

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

, and

child sexuality Sexual behaviors in children are common, and may range from normal and developmentally appropriate to abusive. These behaviors may include self-stimulation, interest in sex, curiosity about their own or other genders, exhibitionism (the d ...

. Goicolea was educated at the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

and studied painting, photography, and sculpture at that institution. He holds an MFA in fine arts from the

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Institute. He made his debut in 1999, and now shows work with

Postmasters A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

gallery in New York, Aurel Scheibler in Berlin, Germany,

Gow Langsford Gallery Gow Langsford Gallery is a commercial art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. The gallery was established in 1987 by John Gow and Gary Langsford. Gow Langsford represents many significant New Zealand and international artists, including Max Gim ...

in Auckland, New Zealand, and Galerie Ron Mandos in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Some of his work features photographs of "pre- to barely pubescent boys" in elaborately staged

tableau Tableau (French for 'little table' literally, also used to mean 'picture'; : tableaux or, rarely, tableaus) may refer to: Arts * ''Tableau'', a series of four paintings by Piet Mondrian titled '' Tableau I'' through to ''Tableau IV'' * '' Tableau ...

settings, commonly showing multiple boys wearing traditional

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

uniforms either engaged in school-life or recreation after school—but with often transgressive and erotic twists in their activities. Of great interest in these compositions is the fact that Goicolea ''himself'' portrays all of the boys in his photographs through the astute use of costumes, wigs, makeup, and post-production editing using

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc., Adobe for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was created in 1987 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. It is the most used tool for professional digital ...

; "always looking uncannily like a boy on the edge of puberty". Therefore, despite having numerous figures in them, Goicolea's photographs are actually very complex large-scale self-portraits, and are always done in a flawlessly realist manner. The pioneering fine art photographer

Cindy Sherman Cynthia Morris Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. Her breakthrough work is often co ...

is an apparent influence on Goicolea's work, given her own extensive use of self-portraits and emphasis on sexually charged narrative topics. Sherman and Goicolea have also had several joint exhibitions. His work can be strongly compared to similar manipulated and/or staged art photography featuring children and adolescents, such as that of

Bernard Faucon Bernard Faucon (born 12 September 1950) is a French photographer and writer. He first established a career in art photography and has exhibited widely around the world. Some of his work has attracted accusations of promoting pedophilia, which h ...

Loretta Lux Loretta Lux (born 1969) is a fine art photographer known for her surreal portraits of young children. She lives and works in Ireland. Life and work Lux was born in Dresden, East Germany. She graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts in Munich ...

, and

Justine Kurland Justine Kurland (born 1969) is an American fine art photographer, based in New York City. Early life and education Kurland was born in Warsaw, New York. She earned her B.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts in 1996. She went on to study with Greg ...

. Critic Guy Davenport was an early admirer of Goicolea's work, which he compared in 2002 to that of Faucon. Goicolea has also been producing and exhibiting his drawings, which follow much of the same subject matter as his photographs. He has also published several books. On June 25, 2017, the day of 2017 New York City Pride March festivities,

New York Governor The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ha ...

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( , ; born December 6, 1957) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 until his resignation in 2021. A member of the Democratic Party and son of former governor Mario Cuomo, ...

announced that Anthony Goicolea had been chosen to design the first official monument to LGBT individuals commissioned by the State of New York. The monument is planned to be built in

Hudson River Park Hudson River Park is a waterfront park on the North River (Hudson River) that extends from 59th Street south to Battery Park in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The park, a component of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, stretches and ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, near the waterfront

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

s which have served as historically significant symbols of New York's role as a meeting place and a safe haven for LGBT communities.

Personal life

Goicolea is

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( or ) are Americans who immigrated from or are descended from immigrants from Cuba. As of 2023, Cuban Americans were the fourth largest Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic and Latino American group in the United States aft ...

and openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

. He lives in

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. It was an independe ...

, New York with his partner, Paul Kelterborn.

Selected works

*''Nail Biter''

Commissions

*2017 "LGBT Memorial" located at Hudson River Park, NYC. Commissioned by the State of New York.Barone, Joshu
"A Winning Design for a New York Monument to Gay and Transgender People"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', New York, NY, 25 June 2017. Retrieved on 25 June 2017.

Fellowships and awards

*2006 – The Cintas Fellowship *2005 – The BW Photo Paris Award *1998 – The Bronx Museum, 'Artist In The Market Place' program *1995 – The Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant

Public collections

*The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC *The Indianapolis Museum, Indianapolis, IN *The North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC *Whitney Museum of American Art, New York *The Museum of Modern Art, New York *The Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York *The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY *Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ *The Museum of Helmond, Nederland *The Groninger Museum, Groninger, Nederland *

Museum of Contemporary Photography A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

, Chicago *Yale University Art Collection, Photography, New Haven, CT *El Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla, Leon, España *The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY *Centro Galego De Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela, España *University of Georgia Library, Rare Books Collection, Athens, GA

References

External links

*
Review of 2003 exhibition, Centre for Contemporary Photography (Australia)

2002 exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Photography (US)

AurelScheibler.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goicolea, Anthony American people of Cuban descent 1971 births Living people American fine art photographers Artists from Atlanta Photographers from New York City

Work

Personal life

Selected works

Commissions

Further reading

Fellowships and awards

Public collections

See also

References

External links