Each + Every MFA Thesis Show Invite
It's an arguable assertion that there are two kinds of people who go to grad school: those who aspire to find out who they are and what they want to do, and those that already know the answers to those questions and instead are charting a finessed roadmap for what they want to be doing and how they want to do it. Michael Itkoff definitely appears to be in the latter camp: his resume is an exhaustive catalog of someone who has already accomplished so very much, and I can only imagine he'll double his accolades in the coming years.
Untitled from the Each + Every series by Michael Itkoff
Looking at the breadth and sophistication of the various bodies of work on Itkoff's website, I am struck by his photographic sensibilities and capacity to identify and follow through a series of aesthetic questions. Often in art programs one is taught to settle on a particular project from the outset, and to let this define most of the work that you will ever come to do. Itkoff shows us that he can command many different project hats, as it were, without ever separating us from the particularities of his eye, or his probing and substantive mode of investigation with the camera. Whether it's his completely engaging and full-frontal-context Street Portraits series, or the much lauded work from Overgrowth, Itkoff's work is carefully edited and pretty fully realized stuff. It's unlikely you would hear anyone complaining about "student work" while standing in front of his prints.
Perch on ice, Lake Wallenpaupak, Pennsylvania from Between Two Lakes by Michael Itkoff
A Spring 2006 Hot Shot, and co-founder of the print and online photographic publishing venture Daylight Magazine, Itkoff is graduating from the ICP/Bard MFA program this spring. You'd be an enterprising collector to show up and familiarize yourself with his prints.
Michael Itkoff: Each + Every
Opening Reception Friday Feb. 26th, 6-10 p.m.
On View Saturday Feb. 27th 12-5 p.m.
24-20 Jackson Avenue, 3rd Floor
Long Island CIty, Queens, NYC