Michael Wolf - Tokyo Compression (First Ed) - 2010

Rare First Edition

With "Tokyo Compression," Michael Wolf struck a chord. His award-winning portraits of people squeezed between glass, steel, and fellow passengers on the Tokyo subway are exhibited worldwide. The subject captivated Wolf himself. He repeatedly returned to Tokyo to immerse himself in the underground madness. While other artists had photographed the subway before Wolf, including such renowned names as Bruce Davidson and Walker Evans, the approach and visual language of "Compression" are distinct. Wolf isn't interested in seat cushions, graffiti, the interior design of the carriages, or the subway drivers' relationship to them. Rather, he discovered the subway system as a suitable location to explore the emotional and physical states of the city's inhabitants. Wolf omits all extraneous details, focusing exclusively on faces and figures, and with his radical aesthetic, creates incredibly intense images that, in a disturbing, even shocking way, delve directly into the inner lives of his subjects. German photographer Michael Wolf focuses his work on life in megacities and the documentation of their architecture, lifestyles, and unique cultures. Wolf grew up in Canada, Europe, and the USA. He studied in Berkeley and at the Folkwang University of the Arts under Otto Steinert in Essen. In 1994, he moved to Hong Kong and worked there for eight years as a contract photographer for the magazine 'Stern'. He then withdrew from press photography to pursue his own projects. His work is exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide and has been published in numerous international magazines and photography books.