Mathew Pokoik - news

Last night I attended what at first glance appeared to be a remarkable meeting of minds, a panel discussion hosted by Blindspot Magazine titled Truth and Authenticity in Photography, featuring photographers Mitch Epstein, Paul Graham, Katy Grannan, Danny Lyon, Tod Papageorge, and moderated by Elisabeth Sussman, Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

©Paul Graham, from American Nights

Initially the conversation was quite interesting and civil. Paul Graham in particular was well spoken and has clearly given the nature of photography a great deal of thought, which comes across in his own work. He identified among the panelists a particular intention and use of the medium that I found intriguing, an “artistic territory” that falls between reportage and the synthetic. He spoke about how this particular tradition has “chosen to enter the world as it happens”; later he used another phrase I enjoyed, speaking about the “canvas of America”.

©Danny Lyon

However the moment Danny Lyon opened his mouth things began falling apart. He quickly insulted the work of Garry Winogrand, Stephen Shore, Lee Friedlander, and all the other panelist for finding this work interesting. He let everyone know that Paul Graham was a kid compared to himself, bashed education and the MFA program Papageorge runs, and seemed convinced that the development of the medium came to a grinding halt with his own work. What was overwhelmingly clear is that Danny Lyon is a giant of an egotist. He even seemed to think that the tradition of the Photo Book began with Robert Frank’s Americans and his own relatively early The Bikeriders. Discussing his megalomania afterwards with an acquaintance, he said that the art-world is after all full of egotists. This is true, yet…I’m saddened by the willingness with which this is accepted, how easily Mr. Lyon was able to shutdown what could have been an interesting and subtle conversation by some of our brightest photographic practitioners.

Update: I just noticed that Christian Patterson also wrote about the discussion here. Curious to see how he picked up on a few different points.