For a photographer living in a major city filled with iconic architecture, museums, and myriad tourist destinations, the struggle to capture an authentic image is great. This was the exact situation photographer Michael Wolf found himself in after moving to Paris from Hong Kong in 2008.

Robert Koch Gallery presented from July, Paris Abstract, an exhibition premiering new work by photographer, Michael Wolf. In Paris Abstract, Wolf continues his exploration of the urban landscape and expands on his fascination with density and life in cities. Formal in nature,Paris Abstract lyrically expresses both the architectural complexity and density of the Parisian landscape.

In 2008, Wolf began living part-time in Paris after living in Hong Kong for over a decade.At that time he was apprehensive about the prospect of working in his new home city, concerned about the clichés associated with images of Paris. It was during this period that he produced the series Paris Street Views by essentially sequestering himself in his apartment and appropriating images of Paris from Google Street View.

Since then, with his distinct perspective, Wolf photographed Paris eschewing well-known locations and focusing instead on the innumerable roof tops each with its own identity. Wolf’s strong geometric abstractions offer the viewer a freshly re-contextualized Parisian landscape that examines the density and life in a contemporary metropolis.

Where.- 49 Geary Street. 5th Floor. San Francisco, CA 94108. US.
When.- July 10 – August 30, 2014. Tuesday-Saturday 11:00-17:30. info@kochgallery.com

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Michael Wolf. Lives in Hong Kong. Born Munich, Germany (1954). The focus of the german photographer michael wolf’s work is life in mega cities. Many of his projects document the architecture and the  vernacular culture of metropolises. Wolf grew up in Canada, Europe and the United States, studying at UC Berkeley and at the Folkwang School with Otto Steinert in Essen, Germany. He moved to Hong Kong in 1994 where he worked for 8 years as contract photographer for Stern magazine.  Since 2001, Wolf has been focusing on his own projects, many of which have been published as books.

Wolf’s work has been exhibited in numerous locations, including the Venice Bienniale for Architecture,  Aperture gallery, New York;  Museum Centre Vapriikki, Tampere, Finland, Museum for work in Hamburg, Germany, Hong Kong Shenzhen Biennial, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago. His work is held in many permanent collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the San Jose Museum of Art, California; the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Museum Folkwang, Essen and the German Museum for Architecture, Frankfurt.

He has won first prize in the World Press Photo Award competition on two occasions (2005 & 2010) and an Honorable Mention (2011.) In 2010, Wolf was shortlisted for the Prix Pictet Photography Prize.

He has published more than 13 photo books including Bottrop Ebel 1976 (Peperoni Press 2012) Yokyo  Compression Three (Peperoni Press/Asia One 2012,) Architecture of Density (Peperoni Press/Asia One 2012,) Hong Kong Corner Houses (Hong Kong University Press, 2011) Portraits (Superlabo, Japan,2011)  Tokyo  Compression Revisited (Peperoni Press/Asia One 2011,) Real Fake Art (Peperoni Press/Asia One 2011,)  Fy  (Peperoni Press, 2010,)  a series of unfortunate events. (Peperoni Press, 2010,) Tokyo  Compression (Peperoni Press/Asia One 2010,) Hong Kong inside outside (Peperoni Press/Asia One 2009,) The Transparent City (Aperture 2008) and Sitting in China (Steidl 2002).

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Published on: August 27, 2014
Cite: "‘Paris Abstract’ or Paris Roof Tops by Michael Wolf" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/paris-abstract-or-paris-roof-tops-michael-wolf> ISSN 1139-6415
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