Hasted Kraeutler

HASTED HUNT is pleased to announce the gallery debut of Michael Thompson, beginning Thursday, September 4th and running through Saturday, October 25, 2008. There will be a reception for the artist on Thursday, September 11th from 6 to 8 PM. This is the artist’s gallery debut.

Part of the fashion continuum from Beaton and Horst through to Avedon and Bourdin, Michael Thompson is known for his extraordinary imagination and clarity, his vivid use of color, as well as his calm and diligence. American Photo named Thompson as one of the most important photographers working today, “renowned for making women look beautiful ... he sees them as art”.

“His first book is Michael Thompson: Images (Harry N. Abrams, 2005). Writing in the introduction Vince Aletti, describes Thompson as “a master of the art of astonishment ...Thompson’s images are witty, surprising, and indelible. Though he says he’s open to collaborative improvisation, Thompson’s spontaneity is always channeled into pictures so carefully and elegantly composed that nothing is irrelevant, nothing wasted. Even the most outrageous feel somehow understated ... If there’s a sensibility that connects Thompson’s photographs, it’s flexible, nimble, fearless, and hard to define except as consummate skill”.

Thompson began his career as an assistant to Irving Penn after training at the Brooks Institute of Photography in California. His father was a studio photographer in Washington State. Thompson now photographs regularly for W, Details, Allure, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ and The New York Times Magazine. His commercial photography has placed him at the top of his profession and includes noteworthy campaigns for the Gap, Elizabeth Arden, Chanel, and the PDN Award winner “I Am African.” His award-winning television commercials include those for the fragrance,“Lovely” by Sarah Jessica Parker (winner of the 2006 FiFi Award for Best National Advertising Campaign -Television), the “Frank Gehry Collection” for Tiffany, and a PSA for “The American Ballet Theatre”.

The artist lives and works in New York.