Michael Katz

For Brooklyn-born, Miami-based photographer Michael Katz, art has the unique capacity to arrest our vision in a world defined by a never-ending stream of images and stimuli. Appropriately, his complex, layered photographic compositions contain a great deal of information and still manage to present a startling coherence with a powerful juxtaposition of two dominant elements: a bridge and an outsized pedestrian figure, perhaps, or the New York City skyline and a series of watch faces. Somewhere between collage and photograms, Katz’s combinations bring together vintage and recent photographs with illustrations and text.

The resulting amalgamations of information are at once retro — generally Sepia, black-and-white or monochromatic coloring — and cheekily contemporary. The artist combines all manner of vintage imagery in a way that betrays a profound modern sensibility. Adding to this impression of a perplexing visual rift in time, Katz keeps the photos’ meaning mysterious. Relations between the various layers, elements, and the urban landmarks that serve as their backdrops are never clear, but invite a sustained curiosity and suggest dramatic intrigue.