WOLF, MICHAEL

Drying Salad Leaves, Hong Kong, 2004
C-print
10 7/8 x 14 on 11 3/4 x 14 3/4 inch paper
Signed Edition of 50

(German, 1954-2019)

Michael Wolf is largely concerned with the cultural identity of China, where he has lived since 1995. He is interested in the juxtaposition of the hyper-modern with ancient traditions and the results of an agricultural society rapidly transforming into a highly urban environment. His photographs depict the daily sights of Hong Kong on a scale that is alternately grand and intimate. Wolf succeeds in capturing both the striking presence of Hong Kong’s massive housing developments and the minute human interventions that mark them.

Michael Wolf was born in Munich, Germany in 1954. He grew up in the United States and studied at UC Berkley and at the University of Essen in Germany. His photographs have appeared in a wide spectrum of international magazines and four books of his China pictures have been published to date: Sitting in China (Steidl, 2002), China im Wandel (Frederking und Thaler,2001), Chinese Propaganda Posters from the Wolf Collection (Taschen, 2003), and Hong Kong, The Front Door/The Back Door (Thames and Hudson, 2005). Wolf lives and works in Hong Kong.