Michael Wolf captures abstract, accidental sculptures in Hong Kong alleyways

For over 20 years Michael Wolf has been photographing Hong Kong. During that time he has captured the towering pastel facades of its high rise architecture in a vein similar to Thomas Struth or Andreas Gursky, but perhaps more interestingly he has delved into the hidden maze of the city’s back alleys. What he found and has faithfully documented, are the innumerable abstract urban still lifes seen throughout. All the city’s flotsam and jetsam, from clusters of gloves and clothes hangers, to networks of pipes and a full colour spectrum of plastic bags, are photographed in strange, but entirely happenstance arrangements.

“Hong Kong’s back alleys are often unnoticed against their more glamorous counterparts of dazzling architecture. However, they present an authentic slice of Hong Kong’s grass roots culture. In my opinion they should be nominated as a heritage site,” Michael has said.

Returning to the same sites as many as 20 times, Michael has amassed an archive of thousands of photographs he has been able to arrange into various typologies, including colour, structure and shape. A new solo exhibition at Flowers Gallery in Shoreditch opens today and covers the full range of his project and brings together over 40 of these works.

Informal Arrangements is on at Flowers Gallery from 27 November until 2 January.