New Exhibit: Pacific Art League (November 3 – 23, 2017)

Photography Exhibit Juried Group Show
(Juried by Emmy nominated Andrew Wegst, International Photographer)

“The Grand Entrance” by Oliver Klink

OPENING RECEPTION: November 3 (5:30PM – 8PM)

The Pacific Art League of Palo Alto is pleased to accept your submission, “The Grand Entrance” into “The Photography Exhibit”. Congratulations! Your artwork will be on view from November 3 – 23, 2017.

“The Grand Entrance” is part of the body of work – Circus – Fantasy and Illusion. The Circus is place where everything is pure fantasy and illusion. It enables us to loose ourselves, to dissolve in wonder and bliss, to be transported by mystery. We are struck by the beauty and innocence.

To depict the timelessness and space-less of the circus, I created an atmosphere of old travel postcard complete with painted backdrops as a reference to Orientalism. I want the viewer to hang onto the moments when cultural tradition forces reality to merge with our dream wishes, showing both together in their uneasy alliance for a short time.

The Circus is in town. Let’s re-candle the past.

To View more images

For additional information, contact Oliver Klink

Oliver Klink received 2nd Place at the Spider Awards 2017 Black and White Photography Contest (Silhouette Professional Category)

Press Release, October 15, 2017

Celebrating its 12th year, Black & White Spider Awards is the leading international award honoring black & white photography. A global platform and channel for photographers to show their work to important key industry tastemakers.

Winners and nominees are recognized in a night of online gala celebrations when photography fans around the globe log on for the climax of the annual Photoshow and pay tribute to the most outstanding achievements in black & white photography.

“I am honored to receive the 2nd Place – Merit of Excellence in the Professional Silhouette Category. The quality of the images selected in 2017 is mind blowing. Any images receiving Honorable mentions are great candidates for grand prizes in other contests. Thrilled to be part of such a great group of photographers and artists”. Oliver Klink, Los Gatos, California, USA.

“Ancient Farming” was photographed in China in 2015. The image is part of a large body of work, titled “Spirit of the Village”. You can see more images here.“Spirit of the Village” addresses the current threats to natural and cultural diversity, sites where modernity, tradition, and wild lands collide. It is an elegy for what is vanishing and a celebration of those cultures on the fringe of modern society resilient enough to maintain their vibrance.

As we drift toward a blandly amorphous, generic world, as cultures disappear and life becomes more uniform, we as a people and a species, and Earth itself, are deeply impoverished. The images take the viewer on a roller coaster ride of aesthetic of disappearance, with hope that the fading traditions are not permanent and irreversible.

Congratulations to all the 2017 Spider Awards winners. You can check the list at http://www.thespiderawards.com/12gala/index.php

Upcoming Exhibit: Pacific Art League (October 6-26, 2017)

Landscapes, Seascapes, Cityscapes Juried Group Show

“Outlasting my Dwelling” by Oliver Klink

Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, CA —– Opening Reception: October 6 (5:30 – 8PM)

The Pacific Art League of Palo Alto is pleased to accept your submission, “Outlasting My Dwelling,” into “Landscapes, Seascapes and Cityscapes”. Congratulations! Your artwork will be on view from October 6th-26th, 2017.

“Outlasting my Dwelling” is part of the body of work – I am Yi. The Yi are the poorest Chinese minority living in the remote mountains of the Sichuan province. They strive to survive, to support each other and to protect their culture from modernization. Education, perceived as a disruption, is a path to a “better life”, but offered only to the eldest two children. The large number of younger children simply take care of their siblings. Their future, bleak at best, can rapidly take a turn for the worst.

What seem uncontrollable changes of the world we live in are magnified by their isolation. Environmental disaster, such as the Sichuan earthquake of 2008, which killed 69,000 people, changed the dynamic of the region to either abandonment or on the contrary to “build up” for commercialization. The Yi are proud of who they are and changes to their lifestyle make them homesick.

Are their stories and situations unique? They may or may not be, but they are real. Spending time traveling thru their land, you are on an emotional roller coaster, ranging from rejection, to resentment, to intrusion. The acceptance seldom felt, reminds us that changes in life are hard to accept, that the understanding of each other’s genuine feelings takes time and should prevail over commercial cynicism.

Do their struggles invite us to remember our past, to draw parallels to the changes of our modern society? History repeats, but is forgotten until visible in front of our eyes and soul. I felt I travelled thru time and found a piece of my own history. I cared about the people I photographed, perhaps anticipating what would be next for them.

To View more images

For additional information, contact Oliver Klink

Address: Pacific Art League, 668 Ramona St, Palo Alto, CA 94301, Open Monday – Friday 9AM to 5PM

Oliver Klink selected as Top 200 at Critical Mass 2017 – On to the final round

From Photolucida jurors:
A big congratulations from all of us here at Photolucida! Your images made it to the Top 200 and will be moving on to the final phase of Critical Mass. If you are not on the list, please know that your work was seen and appreciated by a great group of pre-screening jurors. Thank you for doing the work, putting it out there, and being part of this great community!
It is the second year in a row that my images have been selected to the Top 200, with last year being selected as Top 50. The aim of Critical Mass is to provide participants with career-building opportunities and to promote the best emerging and mid-career artists working today. Critical Mass is about exposure, connection, and community – as well as some very notable awards!
What is my new project about: I am Yi (see more images)

Why care about remote cultures, their living conditions, and their customs? Is it nostalgia? “Is it a humanitarian impulse to use pictures to educate and change the world, not just to record”?

The Yi are the poorest Chinese minority living in the remote mountains of the Sichuan province. They strive to survive, to support each other and to protect their culture from modernization. Education, perceived as a disruption, is a path to a “better life”, but offered only to the eldest two children. The large number of younger children simply take care of their siblings. Their future, bleak at best, can rapidly take a turn for the worst.

What seem uncontrollable changes of the world we live in are magnified by their isolation. Environmental disaster, such as the Sichuan earthquake of 2008, which killed 69,000 people, changed the dynamic of the region to either abandonment or on the contrary to “build up” for commercialization. The Yi are proud of who they are and changes to their lifestyle make them homesick.

Are their stories and situations unique? They may or may not be, but they are real. Spending time traveling thru their land, you are on an emotional roller coaster, ranging from rejection, to resentment, to intrusion. The acceptance seldom felt, reminds us that changes in life are hard to accept, that the understanding of each other’s genuine feelings takes time and should prevail over commercial cynicism.

Do their struggles invite us to remember our past, to draw parallels to the changes of our modern society? History repeats, but is forgotten until visible in front of our eyes and soul. I felt I travelled thru time and found a piece of my own history. I cared about the people I photographed, perhaps anticipating what would be next for them.

Are we Yi in our own world?

Oliver Klink published in the Campanile Newspaper

Article by Kaylie Nguyen (published on September 14, 2017) – Read More

Javeena and Ganesha – Piezography Ink 2016

Once a year, tens of thousands of people mill around the streets of downtown Palo Alto to enjoy the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts. Hosted by the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, the festival celebrated its 36th year on Aug. 26 and 27.

This community event brings together 300 artists and crafters from all different background and places, each with his or her own story and inspiration.

Photographer Oliver Klink, a seven-year veteran to the festival, incorporates the message of “don’t forget today for a better tomorrow” in his art.

Klink, who is originally from Switzerland, first began photography when his father gave him a camera at 7 years old. They would go hiking together and take photographs in the Swiss Alps.

Klink’s turning point in his career, however, was when he began to study physics and photography. After getting his masters in physics, Klink learned to manipulate light in his pictures.

Klink’s favorite photograph he has taken, called “Javeena,” shows a young girl stroking an elephant.

“I think [the photograph shows] the bond between humans and animals,” Klink said. “If everyone bond[s] this way, the world would be better.”

Klink especially likes to capture elephants because “they are very charismatic and giant, but in danger.” Through his works, Klink reminds people of the beauty of things that are forgotten by society.

“We all get entangled in modernization and our busy lives that we

forget about today.”

Oliver Klink

“We all get entangled in modernization and our busy lives that we forget about today,” Klink said. “If we preserve today, we’d get a much better tomorrow.”

Published in the Campanile – September 14, 2017

Exhibition at BWGallerist starting on September 1, 2017

   

PRESS RELEASE: August 31, 2017

September 1 – 30, 2017 – BWGallerist

One of our outstanding up and coming fine art photographers is West Coast resident Oliver Klink.

Oliver’s work has been published with National Geographic, Days of Japan, Black & White magazine, Popular Photography magazine, among others. In 2016, he was selected as Critical Mass Top 50 fine art photographer, “Best of the best” emerging fine art photographer by BWgallerist, and received People’s Choice award from Black and White Magazine single image contest. In 2014, his image “Herding Instinct” won the grand prize at the Rayko International Photo contest. Oliver is a master of the new digital printing process called Piezography. Originally from Switzerland, Oliver currently resides in Los Gatos, California with his wife.

“Consequences” addresses the current threats to natural and cultural diversity, sites where modernity, tradition, and wild lands collide. It is an elegy for what is vanishing and a celebration of those cultures resilient enough to maintain their vibrancy. As we drift toward a blandly amorphous, generic world, as cultures disappear and life becomes more uniform, we as a people and a species, and Earth itself, are deeply impoverished. The images take the viewer on a roller coaster ride of aesthetic of disappearance, with hope that the fading traditions are not permanent and irreversible.

Now through September 30.

Click here to view the online exhibit

The full portfolio can be viewed here.

Honorable Mention: Monovision Award 1st Annual Contest (For Consequences Project)

Press Release: August 20, 2017

Oliver Klink’s Consequences project received an Honorable Mention at the Monovision 1st Annual Award.

The panel of judges consisted of Eve Janprasert, Silvan Fässler, Sara Sandström, Conny Dietzshold, Martin Stavars, Caroline Gentsch, Matilde Tiriticco, Sinar Photography, Peter Martin, Maria Oliva, Michael Itkoff, Ann Kristin Plüss and Simon Schwarzer.

Oliver Klink “Circus – Fantasy and Illusion” to be published in “Seeing in SIXES 2017”

I received the exciting news from Brooks Jensen & Maureen Gallagher from LensWork that my body of work “Circus – Fantasy and Illusion” is going to be published in their “Seeing in SIXES 2017” book.

Per their own words: “Congratulations! This is quite an accomplishment, as only 50 projects were selected from an astonishing number of entries.”

The book (312 pages) is already available for pre-order ($34.95 +tax and shipping). http://www.lenswork.com/sixes

Circus – Fantasy and Illusion is currently exhibited at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel until September 3 and at Mundos Cafe in Monterey until August 11.

For more information on the exhibits time and date click here

Oliver Klink.

2017 Rfotofolio: Oliver Klink Selected as one of the artists!

July 9, 2017 – Rfotofolio announces their 2017 Artist Selection.

We are pleased to share that your work was selected in the 2017 Rfotofolio Call as one of the Rfotofolio selections. Thank you for sharing your work. We will be in touch for an interview in the coming weeks.

Best Regards, 

C. Rosenthal 
J.Rosenthal 
Rfotofolio

Artists Reception at Mundos Cafe: Fantastic turn out!

It was fantastic to see so many people at the Artists Reception. The place was packed with photo aficionado, admiring the work of three photographers traveling to the same place and displaying exciting images. Their style is uniquely different but all the images make you want to travel to these locations. The richness of India is amazing!

Mundos Cafe is the perfect place for the exhibit and reception. The atmosphere is welcoming and the food is truly rated as one of the best sandwich places in the Monterey Bay. https://www.yelp.com/biz/mundos-sandwich-and-burger-house-monterey.

The show is up until August 11. Don’t miss it!

Mary, Chester and Oliver.

(Sorry to all the people that came to the reception and are not featured in the picture. Next time we will take out our camera sooner!)