Michael Wolf - #4, Paris Roof Tops, 2014

Michael Wolf

Blind walls and night trees - My favourite things

05/12/2014

31/01/2015

Gallery FIFTY ONE

Opening reception: Friday, Dec. 4th 2014 from 6 – 9 pm

Gallery FIFTY ONE is honored to present Michael Wolf’s third solo exhibition at the gallery with works from his most recent series “Paris Rooftops”, “Paris Tree Shadows”, “Hong Kong Flora” and “My Favourite Things”.

Having lived and worked in Hong Kong for over 15 years, Wolf has developed a unique body of work exploring the character of this city both through its imposing architecture and the vernacular manifestations of life along its dense warren of alleyways. With “My Favourite Things” and “Hong Kong Flora”, Wolf unveils the beauty in the vernacular as life springs up through the cracks of this dense urban environment. With these two series Wolf shows how man has reclaimed the public space in a city starved of private space through a series of tiny interventions which transform the urban landscape.

Read the full press release here.

Installation view
Installation view
Installation view
Installation view
Michael Wolf - #19, HK Yves Klein, MFT group, 2014
Michael Wolf - #19, HK Yves Klein, MFT group, 2014, Set of 4 images (12 x 9 cm) dye sublimation prints, 48 x 40 cm
Michael Wolf - # 08, Paris Tree Shadows, 2014
Michael Wolf - # 08, Paris Tree Shadows, 2014, Archival pigment print on Hahnemeuhle art rag paper, 51 x 34 cm

Michael Wolf

Michael Wolf’s photography is that of an outsider. Born in Germany, raised in the United States and Canada, returning to Germany to study photography before spending the vast majority of his career in Asia, his unusual background has allowed him to make the ‘other’ his home. Wolf began his career as a photojournalist, spending over a decade working in Asia for the German magazine Stern. His willingness to explore different visual approaches, even abandoning the camera altogether to work with emerging image technology such as Google Street View, shows his ability to constantly renew and enrich his visual language.

From the architecture of Hong Kong’s tower blocks to the relentless compression of the Tokyo subway, from issues of privacy and voyeurism in the urban environment to the phenomenon of mass production within the increasingly globalized world of modern art, each of his series reveals a new facet of life in the city, assembling a complex, nuanced view that raises as many questions as it provides answers.
Although he is constantly exploring new subjects and visual approaches, Michael Wolf’s central theme has always remained the same, from his first series in a German mining village to his most recent work in Asia … people, and the reality of their lives in our ever-changing cities.

Michael Wolf won first prize in the World Press Photo competition in 2005 and 2010, and received an honourable mention in 2011. In 2010 and 2016 he was nominated for the Prix Pictet photography award.

biography

Born in Munich, Germany in 1954
Died in Hong Kong in 2019

Michael Wolf - #17, Cheung Chau Sunrises, 2018, Archival pigment print, 101 x 76 cm
Michael Wolf - #54, Cheung Chau Sunrises, 2018, Archival pigment print, 101 x 76 cm
Michael Wolf - #54, Cheung Chau Sunrises, 2018, Archival pigment print, 101 x 76 cm
Michael Wolf - #57, Cheung Chau Sunrises, 2018, Archival pigment print, 101 x 76 cm
Michael Wolf - #57, Cheung Chau Sunrises, 2018, Archival pigment print, 101 x 76 cm
Michael Wolf - #2, Cheung Chau Sunrises, 2018, Archival pigment print, 101 x 76 cm
Michael Wolf - #2, Cheung Chau Sunrises, 2018, Archival pigment print, 101 x 76 cm
Michael Wolf - #30, Cheung Chau Sunrises, 2018, Archival pigment print, 101 x 76 cm
Michael Wolf - #30, Cheung Chau Sunrises, 2018, Archival pigment print, 101 x 76 cm
Michael Wolf - # 1, Paris Rooftops, 2014
Michael Wolf - # 1, Paris Rooftops, 2014, Chromogenic print, 100 x 140 cm
Michael Wolf - # 4, Paris Rooftops, 2014
Michael Wolf - # 4, Paris Rooftops, 2014, Chromogenic print, 100 x 140 cm
Michael Wolf - #23, Architecture of Density, 2003
Michael Wolf - #23, Architecture of Density, 2003, Archival pigment print, 120 x 145 cm
Michael Wolf - #105, Architecture of Density
Michael Wolf - #105, Architecture of Density, Archival pigment print, 120 x 150 cm
Michael Wolf - #39, Architecture of Density
Michael Wolf - #39, Architecture of Density, Chromogenic print, 43 x 64 cm
Michael Wolf - #49, Architecture of Density, 2005
Michael Wolf - #49, Architecture of Density, 2005, Chromogenic print
Michael Wolf - #120, Architecture of Density, 2008
Michael Wolf - #120, Architecture of Density, 2008, Chromogenic print, 135 x 100 cm
Michael Wolf - #6, Transparent City, 2007
Michael Wolf - #6, Transparent City, 2007, Chromogenic print
Michael Wolf - #39, Transparent City
Michael Wolf - #39, Transparent City, Chromogenic print, 120 x 150 cm
Michael Wolf - #25, Transparent City
Michael Wolf - #25, Transparent City, Chromogenic print, Chromogenic print, 135 x 100 cm
Michael Wolf - #18, Tokyo Compression, 2010
Michael Wolf - #18, Tokyo Compression, 2010, Inkjet on Hahnemeuhle art rag paper, 25 x 20 cm
Michael Wolf - #57, Tokyo Compression, 2010
Michael Wolf - #57, Tokyo Compression, 2010, Archival pigment print on Hahnemeuhle art rag paper, 50,7 x 40,4 cm
Michael Wolf - #75, Tokyo Compression, 2010
Michael Wolf - #75, Tokyo Compression, 2010, Archival pigment print on Hahnemeuhle art rag paper, 50,7 x 40,4 cm
Michael Wolf - #33, Tokyo Compression, 2010
Michael Wolf - #33, Tokyo Compression, 2010, Archival pigment print on Hahnemeuhle art rag paper, 50,7 x 40,4 cm
Michael Wolf - #016, Paris Street View, 2009
Michael Wolf - #016, Paris Street View, 2009, C-print, Lambda process, 125 x 100 cm
Michael Wolf - #019, 19, A Series Of Unfortunate Events, 2010
Michael Wolf - #019, 19, A Series Of Unfortunate Events, 2010, C-Print, Lambda process, 125 x 100 cm
Michael Wolf - # 4, Hong Kong Flora, 2014
Michael Wolf - # 4, Hong Kong Flora, 2014, C-print, 60 x 50 cm
Michael Wolf - # 2, Hong Kong Flora, 2014
Michael Wolf - # 2, Hong Kong Flora, 2014, C-print, 61 x 44,5 cm
Michael Wolf - #4, HK bastard chair 1, MFT group, 2014
Michael Wolf - #4, HK bastard chair 1, MFT group, 2014, Set of 6 images (12 x 9 cm) dye sublimation prints, 46 x 49 cm
Michael Wolf - #11, HK glove 1, MFT group, 2014
Michael Wolf - #11, HK glove 1, MFT group, 2014, Set of 6 images (12 x 9 cm) dye sublimation prints, 46 x 49 cm
Michael Wolf - #15, Lucio Fontana (2 €), Real Fake Art, 2006
Michael Wolf - #15, Lucio Fontana (2 €), Real Fake Art, 2006, Kodak Endura Paper, LightJet process, 90 x 70 cm
Michael Wolf - #11, Ed Ruscha (6 €), Real Fake Art, 2006
Michael Wolf - #11, Ed Ruscha (6 €), Real Fake Art, 2006, Kodak Endura Paper, LightJet process, 50 x 40 cm