Michael Kenna at 1839 Contemporary Gallery, Taipei.
The acclaimed British photographer Michael Kenna was in attendance at the recent official opening of his solo show at Taipei’s 1839 Contemporary Gallery (Taiwan).
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| Solo Show, Opening 19th May 2012 at 1839 CG in Taipei |
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| Dr. Edward Chiu, Owner of 1839 CG (left); Michael Kenna (centre); Thomas Hodges, Artist, and Journalist (right) |
Born in Widnes, Lancashire in the U.K., the son of an Irish catholic family, Kenna in his early years studied to become a catholic priest. Upon realizing that this was not his vocation, he later studied at the Banbury School of Art, with the objective of becoming a painter. Self-awareness soon led him to realize that he would find it very difficult to earn a living as a painter, so he quickly switched to photography.
Today, Kenna resides in Seattle in the United States, having initially moved to San Francisco back in 1977. He is internationally known for his images of ethereal landscapes, which he achieves by photographing at dawn or at night with exposures of up to 10 hours.
During the official opening of his solo show, he also gave a presentation of his work, captivating the audience with details of what inspires him and how he likes to return on multiple occasions to the same location, to photograph again and again the same scene, albeit, each time producing a different image, a different portrayal to what was captured previously. He is passionate in his work and as he explained, driven by the search of something beyond, something that is suggested as opposed to actually depicted.
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| Michael Kenna Presents his Work at 1839 CG, Taipei. |
Kenna was also available for book signing, with his publications “A Twenty Year Retrospective”; “Retrospective Two”; “Japan” and “Huangshan” being made available for purchase by the gallery, these being just four of Kenna’s numerous book publications.
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| Michael Kenna Book Signing at 1839 CG, Taipei. |
Kenna has traveled world-wide to capture his images and has been particularly captivated by East Asia, in particular Japan, Mainland China and Korea.
1839 Contemporary Gallery in Taipei (Taiwan) is the foremost photographic art gallery in Taiwan. Kenna has exhibited previously at the gallery and was also in attendance at the opening of last year’s “Taiwan Photo”. His current solo show opened on 19th May 2012 and runs until 1st July 2012. Full details can be found on the gallery’s website: https://www.1839cg.com/.
The works of Michael Kenna and detailed other information can be found on his website: https://www.michaelkenna.com/index2.php/
thanks to Mark M Whelan