Richard Renaldi: Manhattan Sunday

Manhattan Sunday is part homage to a slice of New York nightlife, and part celebration of New York as palimpsest--an evolving form onto which millions of people have and continue to project their ideal selves and ideal lives. In the essay that accompanies his photographs, Richard Renaldi describes his experiences as a young man in the late 1980s who had recently embraced his gay identity, and of finding a home in the mystery and abandonment of the club, the nightscape, and then finally daybreak, each offering a transformation of Manhattan from the known world into a dreamscape of characters acting out their fantasies on a grand stage.
Drawing heavily on his personal subcultural pathways, Renaldi captures that ethereal moment when Saturday night bleeds into Sunday morning across the borough of Manhattan. This collection of portraits, landscapes, and club interiors evokes the vibrant nighttime rhythms of a city that persists in both its decadence and its dreams, despite beliefs to the contrary. Manhattan Sunday is a personal memoir that also offers a reflection the city's evolving identity--one that still carries with it and cherishes the echoes of its past.
This collection of portraits, landscapes, and club interiors evokes the vibrant nighttime rhythms of a city that persists in both its decadence and its dreams, despite beliefs to the contrary. Manhattan Sunday is a personal memoir that also offers a reflection the city's evolving identity--one that still carries with it and cherishes the echoes of its past.
Richard Renaldi (born in Chicago, 1968) graduated from New York University with a BFA in photography in 1990. Renaldi is represented by Benrubi Gallery, New York, and Robert Morat Galerie, Berlin. Manhattan Sunday is Renaldi's fourth book, following Figure and Ground (Aperture, 2006), Fall River Boys (2009), and Touching Strangers (Aperture, 2014). In 2015, he was named a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow in Photography.
Touching Strangers (Aperture, 2014):
Renaldi pairs disparate people in terms of culture, religion, and dress and implores them to embrace one another. We see how a forced interaction can break down boundaries created by stereotypes and subcultures. (Debbie Grossman, American Photo)
What makes Renaldi's photographs thrilling is that, even knowing his strategy, the viewer can't help fabricating a story about the subjects' relationship. We weave narratives around them who they are, the unlikely tenderness that might exist between strangers. (Anna Altman, New York Times Book Review)
The collection has a captivating strangeness to it that reveals the sensitivity we have about each other's skin. (Allison Meier, Hyperallergic)
Most photographers capture life as it is, but in these strangers, Richard Renaldi has captured something much more ethereal and elusive. He shows us humanity as it could be as most of us wish it would be and as it was, at least for those one fleeting moments in time. (Steve Hartman, CBS News)
Renaldi's unusual photographic formula reveals the unlikely ways the body and the heart can influence each other. (Priscilla Frank, Huffington Post)
The photographer Richard Renaldi is a matchmaker for tense times. (John Leland, New York Times Lens Blog)
Often posing his subjects in a way one might for family or couple photos, Renaldi attempts to capture an implied narrative, bringing a new complexity to portrait-making and visual storytelling. (Erik Tanner, TIME Lightbox)"
"Touching Strangers" (Aperture, 2014):

Renaldi pairs disparate people in terms of culture, religion, and dress and implores them to embrace one another. We see how a forced interaction can break down boundaries created by stereotypes and subcultures. (Debbie Grossman, "American Photo")

What makes Renaldi's photographs thrilling is that, even knowing his strategy, the viewer can't help fabricating a story about the subjects' relationship. We weave narratives around them who they are, the unlikely tenderness that might exist between strangers. (Anna Altman, "New York Times Book Review")

The collection has a captivating strangeness to it that reveals the sensitivity we have about each other's skin. (Allison Meier, Hyperallergic)

Most photographers capture life as it is, but in these strangers, Richard Renaldi has captured something much more ethereal and elusive. He shows us humanity as it could be as most of us wish it would be and as it was, at least for those one fleeting moments in time. (Steve Hartman, CBS News)

Renaldi's unusual photographic formula reveals the unlikely ways the body and the heart can influence each other. (Priscilla Frank, "Huffington Post")

The photographer Richard Renaldi is a matchmaker for tense times. (John Leland, "New York Times "Lens Blog)

Often posing his subjects in a way one might for family or couple photos, Renaldi attempts to capture an implied narrative, bringing a new complexity to portrait-making and visual storytelling. (Erik Tanner, TIME Lightbox) "
Touching Strangers (Aperture, 2014): "Renaldi pairs disparate people-in terms of culture, religion, and dress-and implores them to embrace one another. We see how a forced interaction can break down boundaries created by stereotpyes and subcultures." (Debbie Grossman American Photo) "What makes Renaldi's photographs thrilling is that, even knowing his strategy, the viewer can't help fabricating a story about the subjects' relationship. We weave narratives around them - who they are, the unlikely tenderness that might exist between strangers. (Anna Altman The New York Times Book Review) ..".The collection has a captivating strangeness to it that reveals the sensitivity we have about each other's skin." (Allison Meier Hyperallergic) "Renaldi's bold and revealing new book is the culmination of 6 years worth of portraits showing complete strangers posing in intimate and awkwardly affectionate positions and offer a refreshing perspective on the question of modern detachment." (TIME LightBox) "The project began in 2007 when Renaldi began approaching total strangers and asked to photograph them physically interacting with each other. The result was images that display the human tendency toward tenderness and affection than can be found even between complete strangers." (Canbra Hodsdon Juxtapoz) "Most photographers capture life as it is, but in these strangers, Richard Renaldi has captured something much more ethereal and elusive. He shows us humanity as it could be-as most of us wish it would be-and as it was, at least for those one fleeting moments in time." (Steve Hartman CBS News) "Renaldi's unusual photographic formula reveals the unlikely ways the body and the heart can influence each other." (Priscilla Frank The Huffington Post) "The photographer Richard Renaldi is a matchmaker for tense times." (John Leland The New York Times Lens Blog) "Often posing his subjects in a way one might for family or couple photos, Renaldi attempts to capture an "implied narrative," bringing a new complexity to portrait-making and visual storytelling." (Erik Tanner TIME Lightbox)"