Jackass

2008 - Photography (Photography)

Ari Marcopoulos

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In Jackass (2008) by Ari Marcopoulos, his two sons, Cairo and Ethan, are pictured relaxing in a disheveled bedroom in their Sonoma home. One plays with some sort of board game while the other holds either a book or DVD of the movie Jackass Number Two, presumably the source of the photograph’s title. As Marcopoulos has continued to document his sons, and as they have become teenagers, the images of them begin to closely resemble the teenagers in much of his earlier work. The boys in Markopoulos’ images have become less his sons and more anthropological subjects of study, the youths that started his photographic career over thirty years ago. Jackass is a perfect example of the full circle that Marcopoulos’ career has made.

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Dutch artist Ari Marcopoulos moved to the United States in 1980 and has become an important documentarian of American fringe culture over the last three decades. The subject matter of Marcopoulos’ photographs and videos have ranged from skateboarding and snowboarding to the New York art scene, including Warhol’s Factory, in the 1980’s. Now residing in Northern California, Marcopoulos has focused his lens on his family. Often documenting his sons against the California landscape, he has stressed that these photos are not meant to be autobiographical but archetypes of the idea of family. Through his prolific output of books, magazines, films, and exhibitions, Marcopuolos has provided the world with an inside view of cultures that are often inaccessible.

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Colors:

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• view.v.02
• document.v.01
• adolescent.n.01
• jack.n.12
• relax.v.01
• california.n.01
• artists' books
• black-and-white photography
• city scenes
• close-up
• contemporary vintage photography
• dutch
• artists from the san francisco bay area