Lyle Ashton Harris » Ektachrome Archive(David Castillo Gallery)

Essex, LA Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, 1992, 2015
Installation view, David Castillo Gallery, 2015
M. Lamar, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, 1993, 2015
Red Pegasus, New York, Circa Late 1980s, 2015
Installation view, David Castillo Gallery, 2015
Nightlife, New York, Circa Early 1990s, 2015
Whitney Independent Study Program, New York, 1992, 2015
Gail and Peggy, Ft. Greene, Brooklyn, New York, Circa Late 1980s, 2015
Installation view, David Castillo Gallery, 2015
Lyle, London, 1992, 2015
To Do List, Seattle, 1992, 2015
Installation view, David Castillo Gallery, 2015
Lyle and Tommy, Venice, 1992, 2015
Nan, Berlin, 1992, 2015
Thomas, London, 1992, 2015
Installation view, David Castillo Gallery, 2015
Renee, Lyle, and Thomas, Upper Baja, Mexico, Circa Mid 1990s, 2015
Gay’s Head, Martha’s Vineyard, Circa Late 1980s, 2015
Truce Between Crips and Bloods, Los Angeles, 1992, 2015
Lyle, Circa Early 1990s, 2015

This series of chromogenic prints selected from the artist’s personal archive of 35mm Ektachrome color reversal slides represents a unique document of ephemeral moments and emblematic figures shot in the 1980s and 1990s against a backdrop of seismic shifts in the art world, the emergence of multiculturalism, the second wave of AIDS activism, and incipient globalization.

With unassuming candor, this selection of works portray a close circle of the artist’s friends, acquaintances and lovers, including many notable luminaries then on the cusp of ascendency, such as the photographers Nan Goldin and Catherine Opie, artists Glenn Ligon and Renée Cox, MoMA curator Klaus Biesenbach, writers bell hooks and Essex Hemphill, and filmmaker Isaac Julian.