Duane Michals. El fotógrafo de lo invisible.
Exposición de PHotoESPAÑA 2025 en Fundación Canal
“Su trabajo, profundamente espiritual, se centra en capturar lo que no se puede ver: la esencia emocional y filosófica de lo que somos.”
Duane Michals. The Photographer of the Invisible.
PHotoESPAÑA 2025 Exhibition at Fundación Canal
“His deeply spiritual work focuses on capturing what cannot be seen: the emotional and philosophical essence of who we are.”
“When you look at my photographs, you are looking at my thoughts”
“Duane Michals is not interested in the visible; his goal is to give form to the invisible. With a wholly subjective approach, his images explore intangible themes such as emotions, fears, desires, obsessions, and instincts, as well as spirituality, identity, death, and mystery.”
“... the artist becomes a spokesperson for aspects that touch on areas of each of our lives: relationships, diversity, feelings, anxieties, hopes, the spirit, sexuality, absence, memories, and secrets.”
“... with his characteristic candor...”
“... he seeks the essence of things and recounts it in the most sober manner possible, sometimes deliberately bordering on naivety and always with a refined capacity for synthesis.”
“... managing to universalize subjective intuitions ... ”
“What needs to be expressed is an intimate revelation of the nature of the thing itself, not just a visual representation of it.”
“... pursuing authenticity ...”
“Even the bad days have contributed to who I have become, in a very profound way. Nothing is lost; everything counts.”
Quotes from the exhibition catalog curated by Enrica Viganó
Balthus set me free so that I could free myself and know who I was.”
And that has no end.
“When I invented my own chance, everything was set free.”
In the summer of 2025, I visited that exhibition several times, sometimes with my “big” camera. It is difficult to find words to describe Michals’ extraordinary work.
I recall some of my reflections; Michals was 93 years old, still lucid, and it seems he had personally selected the photographs for the exhibition; truly extraordinary in many ways. I imagine he passed away with a sense of having fulfilled his life’s purpose. THANK YOU, Duane, for your invaluable contributions.
The photographs I took, as well as the notes I jotted down in my notebook (or should I say commonplace book :) were left on the back burner (as so often happens).
Upon hearing the news of his death this June 2026, I have retraced my steps...
Perhaps this is a good time to look at his photographs “How I will look when I am dead” and “SELF PORTRAIT AS IF I WERE DEAD”
Duane Michals died on June 9; two days later, on June 11, David Hockney passed away. In 2017, I had the opportunity to see the exhibition “HOCKNEY. 60 YEARS OF WORK” at Tate Britain in London. I believe both of them are timeless.
