Like a good wine, Michael Jang's photography gets better with age.
"Some of the work I question, like the Beverly Hilton or The Jangs, if it
would have been good when it first came out, or appreciated. I think
maybe not. I think maybe you need to age 30 years so that we can look
back on it."
Looking back on his seemingly blase images of Cuba, we can question how much (or how little) the world has changed. His photographs are embedded with youthful naivety and contrast starkly with the heavier subject matter. These are literally the children of the revolution, twelve going on twenty-five: they dance, they smoke, they fight, they kiss. It is refreshing to see a body of work on Havana that does not heavily feature large men with moustaches and cigars, toddlers grasping at rifles or, dare I say it, a Che Guevara reference.
This is because Jang's images capture Cuba in a time less seeped in stereotype and pretension: this is the real Havana.
Although Jang has been a commercial and artistic photograph for nearly thirty years, focusing mainly on portraiture, he has only recently dived into the sess-pool of the infamous 'art scene'. His exhibition Punks and Poets in 2009 showcased a series of photographs he took from the depths of the 70s subculture. Think Bowie, skinheads rolling joints as thick as your thumb, and lots of questionable haircuts. You can view some of those images here.
More at michaeljang.com.