Michael Wolf
Photographer Michael Wolf led an international life that reflected his strong international reputation. Born 1954 in Munich, Germany, Wolf lived in Canada, the US, Hong Kong, Tokyo.
As he moved through, Wolf would turn his lens to the complexities of city life – from zoomed out views of architectural density, to the zoomed in details that others might miss: rubber gloves set out to dry, runaway work pants caught up in scaffolding.
One of Wolf’s striking series features portraits of factory works in China making toy doll heads, pink dachshunds, red-tipped silver guns. Another offers a claustrophobic peek at Tokyo commuters crammed into the subway at rush hour.
In a 2013 interview with Klat Magazine, Francesca Esposito asked Wolf how he came up with his ideas, how he came to focus on certain details. Wolf replied: “While everybody is looking in one direction, I notice the detail, the one thing that nobody else has noticed. I see one, then another and another until those pictures turn into a series and then the series becomes a project. It’s not that I have a single grand scheme at the outset. My mind follows my gut instinct. It’s an unconscious thing, there’s nothing premeditated about it.”
Wolf passed away young in 2019, but his work continues. Until November 30th, you can see wonderful examples of his art at the Bau-Xi Gallery in Toronto and in their online display. A sampling …
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Tokyo Compression 22
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Tokyo Compression 84
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Architecture of Density 18
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Paris Rooftops 8
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Transparent City 11
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Transparent City 86
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Header: Tokyo Compression 17
