Luke Smalley was an American photographer known for capturing boys in adolescence and as a talented art director famous for creating "playful images that explored the intersections between fashion and masculinity". His work, which pairs a coolly minimalist aesthetic with a retro nostalgia, centers around his tongue-in-cheek take on the journey for truth inside the lives of small town youth, especially athletic, all-American, young men. Many of the photographs are homoerotic, yet sexually ambivalent and never perverse. Images from his earlier collections were inspired by fitness manuals and yearbooks circa 1910. This is not surprising since Smalley graduated with a degree in sports medicine from Pepperdine University and worked for a number of years as a model and personal trainer. Smalley shot his artistic portraits in his home state of Pennsylvania. He used real high school athletes as models, who engaged in unusual competitions reinvented by the photographer, who also designed and crafted some of the outfits and equipments.
Early life
Smalley was born on June 6, 1955 to parents Thomas J. Smalley Sr. and Julia Svatosky Smalley in Pennsylvania. He graduated from Rice Avenue Union High School in 1973. Following high school, he attended Hunter College and Northeastern University, before graduating with a degree in sports medicine from Pepperdine University. For the next several years, he worked as a model and personal trainer in California. His true love was photography, and he eventually became an independent Fine art and commercial photographer.
Work
Smalley attained some notoriety outside of leading men's-wear image makers, and his commercial photography has appeared in both mainstream and niche market publications. He frequently collaborated and was friends with British designer Kim Jones. His art photography frequently featured the northwestern Pennsylvania town he called home until his death. He had gallery showings on both coasts and had four books of his photography published. After Smalley's sudden death the Smalley Partnership was formed for the purpose of continuing Luke Smalley's photographic legacy. The art gallery ClampArt, in the Chelsea district of New York City, currently represents the efforts of the Smalley Partnership.
Smalley died unexpectedly on Sunday, May 17. 2009 at the age of 53. He is survived by two sisters, three brothers, four nieces, and four nephews. He is buried in St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church cemetery in Girard, Pennsylvania.
