Working with ordinary people who answered ads in local papers, posing them in their nondescript homes or unexceptional landscapes and using relatively simple equipment, Katy Grannan alchemizes these factors into extraordinary photographs. Disarming for their directness and for the provocative but casual nudity on display, her pictures capture the spirit of her subjects in the manner of Diane Arbus, but they also draw upon the artificial, posed tableaux of Gregory Crewdson and, indeed, art history. The posture of the tattooed and tanned (and nude) figure in "Mike," a 2003 portrait which appeared in the 2004 Whitney Biennial, resembles nothing so much as the awkward repose of the desert nomad in Henri Rousseau's "Sleeping Gypsy." In this first monograph, over half of the photographs are previously unpublished, providing a fresh depth to our understanding of this already widely known and accomplished young artist. Sitting on a dirt road in a knit bikini, standing defiantly in a corner of a cheaply paneled living room, leaning languidly against a chain-link fence, Grannan's photoraphs convey the dark side that we all have as well as the need to be recognized as unique individuals. "Katy Grannan's first monograph features 75 visually striking and voyeuristically irresistable portraits that capture the intense relationship between photographer and model, as well as the desire of the subject to offer him or herself up to the camera lens." --Photo District News "In color or black and white, these portraits reveal glamorous ideas about the self and its environment that the pictures consistently undercut. Fascinating and troubling." -- Alan Artner --The Chicago Tribune "That sense of assuming a new identity -- at least for the moment, in front of the camera -- is palpable in her portraits. The title of her new book, 'Model American: Katy Grannan,' underscores that notion: American stereotypes are transformed into a new breed of model Americans, through the collaboration of subject and photographer." -- Philip Gefter --The New York Times "Katy Grannan takes photographs to honor the humanity she shares with her subjects." -- Lynne Heffley --The Los Angeles Times "Grannan doesn't question their motivation, but her presence clearly provokes and sanctions these touching, often extraordinary performances." -- Vince Aletti --Photograph Magazine Katy Grannan was born in Arlington, Massachusetts, in 1969. She received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in 1991 and her M.F.A. from Yale University in 1999. Her work has been featured in multiple group exhibitions; she was one of five photographers selected for the 2004 Whitney Biennial. Solo exhibitions of Grannan’s work have been held at Lawrence Rubin Greenberg Van Doren Fine Art in New York (2000 and 2003) and other galleries. She recently received the 2004 Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers, the Theater Gallery of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (2004). Grannan is represented by the Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York. She lives in New York City and San Francisco. Used Book in Good Condition