Road To Red Square, Moscow
Photograph (c) Michael Kirchoff
double-click image to see full frame
Transfiguration Cathedral Compound, Kizhi, Russia
Photograph (c) Michael Kirchoff
Shadow Angel, Lafayette Cemetery
Photograph (c) Michael Kirchoff
After several years of corresponding online through social media, it was great to finally meet photographer Michael Kirchoff and view his work in person at Portland's recent Photolucida Portfolio Reviews. I'm pleased to be able to announce his solo exhibit, Flawed, opening today, May 8, at the Photo Methode Gallery, Austin, Texas. This is his statement about the work in this show:
Michael Kirchoff: Flawed
"I am inherently flawed. Deeply and irrevocably. I always have been, and I always will be. I try, make mistakes, and often fail, but not without learning something from them. Without these flaws I would not be able to properly create the images you see in this collection, as they are representative of myself as a photographic artist and as a human being. I strive to create images that are a flip side to the perfectly composed, digitally created and retouched photographs seen in ads and the covers of magazines. My art can be recognized by a timeless and ethereal quality where the imperfections of the subject, camera, or technique are often highlighted as an integral part of the image."
A large portion of the photographs on exhibit are from my two largest bodies of work, An Enduring Grace, created with long expired Polaroid materials that produce inconsistent and unpredictable results, and Vignette, created using cheap plastic toy cameras with plastic lenses that bring about softer, more unrefined looking photographs.
The use of outdated Polaroid film has been the perfect vehicle for constructing the framed and fractured reflections of many of my travels. Over time I have been able to predict and guide the unpredictable nature of this process, yet never maintaining a perfect handle on the outcome. A natural frame exists within each photograph, and within that frame a more organic and meandering texture or weakness. Once again, I am reflected within its contents.
The square photographs made with toy cameras, specifically the Chinese manufactured Holga camera, engage the use of one of the simplest of photographic tools made. Little control over exposure, and an inaccurate viewfinder require an innate ability to predict and compose the moments captured. Inaccuracy and lack of control are the hallmarks of my being.
No one person is not without needed improvement, and I am forever a work-in-progress. My images embrace, expose, and mirror the fact that I, like everyone, remain imperfect… and most certainly, flawed." – Michael Kirchoff
A large portion of the photographs on exhibit are from my two largest bodies of work, An Enduring Grace, created with long expired Polaroid materials that produce inconsistent and unpredictable results, and Vignette, created using cheap plastic toy cameras with plastic lenses that bring about softer, more unrefined looking photographs.
The use of outdated Polaroid film has been the perfect vehicle for constructing the framed and fractured reflections of many of my travels. Over time I have been able to predict and guide the unpredictable nature of this process, yet never maintaining a perfect handle on the outcome. A natural frame exists within each photograph, and within that frame a more organic and meandering texture or weakness. Once again, I am reflected within its contents.
The square photographs made with toy cameras, specifically the Chinese manufactured Holga camera, engage the use of one of the simplest of photographic tools made. Little control over exposure, and an inaccurate viewfinder require an innate ability to predict and compose the moments captured. Inaccuracy and lack of control are the hallmarks of my being.
No one person is not without needed improvement, and I am forever a work-in-progress. My images embrace, expose, and mirror the fact that I, like everyone, remain imperfect… and most certainly, flawed." – Michael Kirchoff
May 8 – June 19, 2015
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