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Michael Jang

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Michael Jang (born 1951) is an American documentary photographer. He is best known for his 1970s photographs of life in Los Angeles and San Francisco,[1] with subjects ranging from his family to punk bands and street scenes.[2]

Early life and studies

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Jang was born in Marysville, California in 1951.[3][4] He studied at CalArts in Santa Clarita receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1973.[5][6] Initially a design major, Jang switched to photography after being exposed to the work of Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand, and Lee Friedlander.[7] While at CalArts, Jang photographed the raunchiness of the student environment and in 2013 he published the photos in a book titled College.[8][9] While at CalArts he used fake press credentials to access events and parties at The Beverly Hilton hotel, where he was able to photograph a range of people from the unknown to famous musicians and politicians.[3][10][11]

Later in the 1970s, he moved to San Francisco[12] and earned a MFA degree from the San Francisco Art Institute.[3][13] While in grad school he photographed the San Francisco punk rock scene, including a portrait of Johnny Rotten after his last Sex Pistols performance.[14]

Work

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After art school, Michael Jang continued to pursue creative projects while earning a living as a commercial photographer in San Francisco.[15] He was relatively unknown as an artist until 2002, when the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art acquired several of his photographs.[16] The subjects of his work are mainly vernacular photography and street photography.[17] His 1973 series The Jangs documents the assimilation of his Asian American family.[18][19] His 1983 series Summer Weather documented auditioning weather reporters.[20]

In 2019 the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts staged a retrospective exhibition of his work.[17] Also in 2019, Atelier Editions published a retrospective monograph of his work titled Who is Michael Jang?[3][21]

Publications

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  • Far East of Suburbia; Michael Jang, n.d; OCLC 993600565
  • The Jangs; Michael Jang, 2009; OCLC 958691954
  • One of a Kind; Los Angeles: Hamburger Eyes, 2011; OCLC 971973191
  • Summer Weather; San Francisco: Owl & Tiger Books, 2012; ISBN 9780615596327
  • College; San Francisco: Hamburger Eyes, 2013;[9] Special edition, 2014. OCLC 880357874
  • The Jangs × Los Angeles; Los Angeles: Pascale Georgiev and Kingston Trinder, 2014; OCLC 968799880
  • To Mike; Los Angeles: Atelier, 2016; OCLC 1038534492
  • Who is Michael Jang? Los Angeles: Atelier, 2019; ISBN 978-0997593594; With an introduction by Sandra S. Phillips, a foreword by Erik Kessels and texts by Kingston Trinder; Edition of 3000 copies[22]

Collections

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Jang's work is in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art[4] and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.[23]

References

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  1. ^ "Michael Jang The Whole Story, 2022–2023 · SFMOMA". 2023-09-29. Archived from the original on 2023-09-29. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  2. ^ "Michael Jang The Whole Story, 2022–2023 · SFMOMA". 2023-09-29. Archived from the original on 2023-09-29. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  3. ^ a b c d "A Rediscovered Archive from California in the Seventies". The New Yorker. 2019-08-24. Archived from the original on 2019-08-24. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
  4. ^ a b "Michael Jang · SFMOMA". San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Archived from the original on 2019-06-24. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
  5. ^ "Michael Jang's Instagram Feed Offers a Window into CalArts in the '70s". 26 June 2014. Archived from the original on 2019-08-24. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
  6. ^ "Michael Jang's College Series is the Unofficial Yearbook for His Graduating Class". 2014-06-17. Archived from the original on 2019-08-24. Retrieved 2019-08-24 – via vice.com.
  7. ^ "The forgotten photos that made Michael Jang's name". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2019-09-20. Retrieved 2019-11-21. Behind paywall.
  8. ^ "See Raunchy Photos from CalArts in the 1970s". 2014-07-16. Archived from the original on 2019-08-24. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
  9. ^ a b "College by Michael Jang, second edition out now", Hamburger Eyes, May 16, 2013. Accessed August 1, 2020.
  10. ^ "Asian Art Museum | Michael Jang". www.asianart.org. Archived from the original on 2019-08-25. Retrieved 2019-08-25.
  11. ^ "Michael Jang: Summer Weather". Popular Photography. 17 October 2011. Archived from the original on 2019-08-24. Retrieved 2019-08-25.
  12. ^ "Michael Jang The Whole Story, 2022–2023 · SFMOMA". 2023-09-29. Archived from the original on 2023-09-29. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  13. ^ "Michael Jang's California | September 27, 2019 – January 18, 2020". Archived from the original on August 24, 2019. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  14. ^ "Iconic Photos from San Francisco's 70s Punk Scene". 2017-01-04. Archived from the original on 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
  15. ^ "Michael Jang: Family snapshots become fine art". 2008-11-10. Archived from the original on 2019-08-24. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
  16. ^ Seibel, Brendan (2009-10-21). "Punk Rock, DIY Access and Secret Success: The Photography of Michael Jang". Wired. Archived from the original on 2016-12-23. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
  17. ^ a b "Michael Jang photo installed above Clement Street to promote new retrospective exhibition – Richmond District Blog". 23 August 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-08-24. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
  18. ^ "Michael Jang: The Jangs". 2015-06-05. Archived from the original on 2019-08-01. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
  19. ^ "Meet the Brady Bunch, Asian-American style — courtesy of photographer Michael Jang". Public Radio International. Archived from the original on 2019-08-24. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
  20. ^ Coppelman, Alyssa (17 January 2013). "America's Next Top Weather Reporter: 1980s Edition". Slate. Archived from the original on 24 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  21. ^ Kenneth Dickerman and Michael Jang, "Idiosyncratic photos show life in 1970s Los Angeles and San Francisco", Washington Post, February 21, 2020.
  22. ^ "Who Is Michael Jang? by Michael Jang". Atelier Éditions. Archived from the original on 2019-10-03. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  23. ^ "Michael Jang".
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