| Michael Poliza | |
The New York Times Book Review describes Africa as A massive, majestic book (it weighs 12.15 pounds, more than most newborns), it features 180 startlingly vivid animal portraits and expansive vistas from across southern Africa: zebras galloping across the delta, a small plane crossing open scrubland, a splay-legged giraffe bending to drink from a lagooneven these familiar images are visually stunning, and others are true revelations of texture, color and pattern. An extreme close-up of an elephant's foot is all crags and fissures, a rock formation with toenails. And a ground-level shot of black-headed orioles in Tanzania freezes their sociable chaos in a kind of fan dance, their spread wings neatly echoing the palm fronds that hang all around them. The real achievement here is in the clarity of detail that digital photography allows. Even in tight focus, blown up to fit across both pages of a spread, these photos lose none of their astonishing resolution... [Africa] might change the way you think about photography.
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The edition of Eyes Over Africa included in this auction is the standard edition. A stunning extra-large edition is also available for purchase through teNeues: * * *
ABOUT THE ARTIST: From actor to entrepreneur, expedition leader, tourism consultant and professional photographer, Michael Poliza has lived a varied and adventurous life. As a teenager, he appeared in well over 100 television shows and films. Poliza went on to make his fortune in the IT world, but in 1997, sold his companies with a view to buying a boat and setting sail for some exotic and relaxing locale. However, this is not a man to do things by half, and in record time the Starship Millennium Voyage was underway. This three-year multimedia expedition around the world on a 75 ft expedition yacht was sponsored by SONY, Microsoft, Deutsche Telekom, Olympus and the WWF, and was broadcast daily on the Internet and followed by millions of people around the world. Poliza’s first coffee table book was published in Germany and focused on the journeys and discoveries of the Starship Millennium Voyage. Quickly becoming a bestseller, it sold more than 50 000 copies. True to his IT roots and passions, Poliza was one of the pioneering photographers to embrace digital photography, and his Starship book was the very first coffee table book to carry more than 50% digital content. That expedition over, Poliza returned to the continent that had stolen his heart: Africa. His book by that name was released to massive acclaim around the world in July 2006. Published by art photography specialists teNeues, this is without a doubt the most talked-about photography title of recent years, showcasing Poliza’s keen eye for the beautiful simplicity of Nature’s graphics. The 10 000-copy first print run sold out in three months – quite an achievement for a title that costs in excess of ₤70. Poliza’s most recent photographic adventure has been an 8-week helicopter expedition (Heli-Africa) across Africa with the purpose of photographing the continent from the air. This expedition was covered extensively by media in Europe and Africa. The book on the expedition, Eyes Over Africa, was published in September 2007. For more about Michael Poliza and his work, see www.michaelpoliza.com For more information on the Heli-Africa project and the Eyes Over Africa book, and to buy exclusive limited edition prints from the book, please visit the dedicated Heli-Africa website. Limited edition prints from Eyes Over Africa are also available from Lumas. The Lumas Gallery in Zurich, Switzerland, will be opening an exhibition of Michael Poliza’s work on April 13, 2008. |
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