oliver michaels assembles new architectural landscapes with dissected dwellings
images courtesy of oliver michaels

 

 

 

for his series of architectural composites, brooklyn-based artist oliver michaels deconstructions our urban fabric and reassembles it, forming new structural landscapes that are both surreal and familiar at the same time. his ‘square in a square’ series sees monochromatic scenes of seemingly ordinary streetscapes, with the subject of the image situated in the center of the frame. rather than a regular home that might occupy the plot, michaels’ fictitious, digital visualizations are made from many different buildings, pieced together into a single structural form. diversity between the set of dwellings is created by the varied placement of architectural details, materials and ornamentation.

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in the making of the architectural composites, michaels begins by capturing hundreds of site-specific photographs. ‘I start by taking a series of walks around an area, or a road trip where I gather images of the surrounding architectural details,’ michaels says. ‘I then work with the stock images in photoshop to create a sculptural remake of the trip so that the structures reflect the feeling of the places I’d been to; it’s my version of themed restaurants.’

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