Category Archives: News

Michael Ast Poster Release, Featured Artist, Nava Posters

Honored to be one of Nava’s 2019 featured artists. “We Sell Dreams” poster, fresh off the press, along with another 20+ posters by an astounding array of contemporary artists. Nava posters are offset printed, in an open-edition, on gorgeous heavy coated paper. Signed posters are projected to be available in bookstores internationally later this Summer in a limited quantity.

Nava Posters, Nava, poster, fine art, open-edition, heavy coated paper, dreams, offset print, Michael Ast

Michael Ast, 17.33”x25”. Offset printed on heavy coated paper © NAVA, 2019

Now available for purchase at NAVA HERE (posters begin shipping August 1, 2019)

New Portfolio: Threshold / Walking (May, 2019)

Excited to share my new portfolio Threshold / Walking after five months photographing and printing.

Threshold / Walking (here)

portfolio, Michael Ast, BW photography, b&w, Threshold Walking

The images shown are derived from a portfolio of nearly 3 dozen archival pigment prints made in May, 2019

Archival Pigment Prints © Michael Ast, 2019

Living Image Exhibition – Halide Project December 7 – Jan. 26, 2019

Happy to have my photopolymer gravure print “Habana Vieja (2018)” featured in the Living Image exhibition. The opening at Halide Project (Philadelphia) is Friday, December 7th, running through January 26th, 2019. Living Image, an internationally juried exhibition, highlights photographers continuing to present work in analog print form. Selections were made by Kat Kiernan, director of Panopticon Gallery (Boston), and editor-in-chief of Don’t Take Pictures magazine. An artist reception will take place December 8th 5:00 – 9:00 pm. Halide Project’s new gallery & darkroom in the Northern Liberties neighborhood is a fantastic space to witness, soon to be equipped with a community darkroom, too. Honored to be in the gallery’s inaugural show, amid the versatile array of artists.

Living Image, analog photography, Halide Project, Michael Ast, photopolymer gravure

Living Image, analog photography, Halide Project, Michael Ast

CKY – Too Precious to Kill, Cover Photos

Extremely psyched to have my photos on the cover of CKY’s new EP Too Precious to Kill.

Serious tracks on this wax! Pressed in an edition of 1,500 copies on 180 gram colored vinyl, on behalf of Record Store Day, Black Friday, November 2018. eOne Records.

Oranbeg Press “What Will Suffice” Publication and Exhibition (Sept. 2018)

Excited to be in the mix of Oranbeg Press’ latest publication and online exhibition Net 2.8: What Will Suffice, juried/curated by photographer, writer & publisher Tim Carpenter. A big fan of Oranbeg Press’ consistent creative mark in the independent photography & publishing world, it’s an honor to have images chosen based upon the exhibition’s great prompt:

In one of his more well-known poems, “Of Modern Poetry,” Wallace Stevens describes:

“The poem of the mind in the act of finding
What will suffice.”

In pre-modern times, the artist could use the symbols of mythology or religion to provide readymade meaning. But now there is no given, nothing waiting around to be discovered.
The philosopher Simon Critchley writes: “The only light with which we might view objects had to be kindled by us, by our activity.”

Similarly, John Gossage says, “I find the things that I photograph, in the way that I photograph them, to be beautiful.” It’s the creative activity (the intelligence, the imagination) of the maker – not the subject matter – that makes a picture sufficient.

Oranbeg Press, independent photography, photo exhibition, NYABF 2018, Michael Ast, curated exhibition, contemporary photography, Tim Carpenter

The publication will be released at the upcoming NY Art Book Fair (9/21 – 9/23/2018)

View Exhibition/Publication HERE @ Oranbeg Press

New Photo Etchings, 2018

Finally getting around to photographing recent hand-pulled photo etchings. This past Winter and Spring in the printmaking studio was a productive, perfectly inky time, producing numerous etchings and subsequent small editions. I spent those months making and pressing plates from my 2017 & 2018 Havana photographs, but also from travels in Portugal, and domestically along the California coast.

Some have already been upload to my etchings portfolio here: Etchings / Michael Ast

Sintra , chine-colle, chine-collé, Kitakata, printmaking, intaglio, photo etching, photopolymer, press, hand-pulled, analo, analog photography, Portugal, Moors, Moorish architecture, etching, in the studi, photographing artwork, Carbonnel, Charbonnel et walker, Japanese paper, deckled, glue, artist proof, Michael Ast

Sintra / Artist Proof (chine-collé glue test, on Kitakata) © Michael Ast, 2018

*** all prints are available for sale ***

Interview/Feature: Dúplex Magazine (November, 2017 Issue)

Honored to be interviewed and featured in the November, 2017 issue of Dúplex magazine, a beautiful publication out of Valencia showcasing artists and designers in Spain and elsewhere.

Michael Ast, photography interview, Dúplex, Vlencia, Spain, La Imprenta, bw photographyy, black and white photography, B&W

Interview: Michael Ast, Dúplex Magazine (Nov. 2017)

Michael Ast, photography interview, Dúplex, Vlencia, Spain, La Imprenta, bw photographyy, black and white photography, B&W

Interview/Feature: Michael Ast, Duplex Magazine (Nov. 2017)

Michael Ast, photography interview, Dúplex, Vlencia, Spain, La Imprenta, bw photographyy, black and white photography, B&W

Dúplex Magazine (Nov. 2017)

Much thanks to Dúplex editor Paco Ballster and Armand Llàcer for the interview, whose print house LaImprenta published my book “a musing from the rocking dock”.

Living Image Exhibition Catalogue, Exhibit Through October 29th, 2017

Halide Project, Living Imahes, photo catalogue, photography catalog, bw photography, analog photography, hand-printed, hand printed, Michael Ast, exhibition, photography exhibition, Gravy Studio, Philadelphia, photopolymer, gravure print, photo etching, printmaking, intaglio, etched, Hahnemuhle copperplate

Living Image Exhibition Catalogue © Halide Project, Oct. 2017

Immense gratitude to Philadelphia’s Halide Project and coordinator Frank C. Barbella. The respect shown to the selected photographers in the Living Image exhibition is something many organizations fail to demonstrate. It’s really an honor to be showcased by such passionate folks for the medium.

The juried analog photography exhibit is up through October 29th, 2017 at Gravy Studio & Gallery, Philadelphia.

New Zine Release – These Windows Are Tinted To Help You Sleep, Michael Ast (Sept. 2017)

Happy to announce the publication of my zine These Windows Are Tinted To Help You Sleep, printed in an edition of 50. Now available.

Info & Ordering

These Windows Are Tinted To Help You Sleep, Michael Ast, zine, Cuba, Vinales, road trip, low-fi, self-publish, photozine, black and white photography, visceral, stream of consciousness, driveby, tinted windows, zine cover, cover, front and back, retro car, chevrolet, Ford, Chevy, Pontiac, michaelast

Living Image Exhibition, Oct. 6 – 29, 2017, Gravy Studio (Philadelphia)

Excited to be one of the selected artists for this upcoming exhibition, showcasing my photo etchings at Gravy Studio & Gallery, Philadelphia.

Living Image, Halide Project, Gravy Studio, Gravy Gallery, Philadelphia, philaarts, analog photography, analog, printmaking, photo etching, photopolymer, photogravure, Michael Ast, photo exhibition, call for entry, The Print Center, John Caperton

“Juried from an international open call by John Caperton, the Jensen Bryan Curator of The Print Center, the works on view in Living Image demonstrate the breadth, depth, and delight of contemporary analog photography. Showcasing an array of traditional and alternative photographic methods, Living Image brings together artists from the region, across the county, and beyond.” (Halide Project)

Opening reception & juror talk on Saturday, Oct. 7, 5:00 – 9:00 pm. Exhibition runs from October 6 – Oct. 29, 2017.