Nadean, cheerleader. October 1998. Brian Finke/Alexia Foundation
The photo of the today is from Brian Finke’s 1998 student award of excellence project, “Middle Class American High School.”
The project began as an investigation of drug abuse within Finke’s former high school, where he had heard that the students had shifted from drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana to using crack, cocaine and heroin. Instead of finding the abuse he had heard about, he found beauty, innocence and youth, which he proceeded to document.
It is interesting how one can see the sparks of his love of beauty and vibrancy in this early student project of Finke’s. (The subject of the above photo is Finke’s sister – he just informed us.) The project expanded and became Finke’s first published book – “2-4-6-8: American Cheerleaders and Football Players, Photographers by Brian Finke.” Work from this series was exhibited as recently as 2010 in Amsterdam.
Brian Finke/Construction
Finke’s third book, Construction, will be released in September. The vitality, rich colors, vivid blue skies and all-American archetypes shown in personal detail of Finke are shown in a new setting, the building boom at the end of the aught’s in Manhattan. The book launch will is at ClampArt in New York, Sept. 6 from 6-8pm.
