David Hilliard: Photographs  (English, Hardcover, Hilliard David)

David Hilliard's vibrant color photographs, usually triptychs or larger compositions, present elaborate narratives exploring a range of themes and situations, from the awkwardness of adolescence to masculinity disarmed. Formally, these staged photographs share the style of contemporary photographers Gregory Crewdson and Anna Gaskell, among others. Yet Hilliard draws less from the realm of the fantastic and instead looks to his immediate surroundings to draw inspiration, as he deftly fuses autobiography with fiction to engage a host of complex ideas. This lush monograph is the first major publication of Hilliard's work. Included are works from the artist's ongoing series about his father, which demonstrate Hilliard's ability to tangle fact with fiction. These images, underscored by the artist's wry outlook on the world, convey a distinct poignancy. Other works engage issues of intimacy, homoeroticism, and identity. The resulting scenes are often as elegiac as they are comical, always orchestrated with precision, and with a marriage of form and content that immerses the viewer in the visual narrative.