Michelle Luke Fine Art Photographer

11/05/2023

“Michelle Luke’s photographs explore a realm of subdued psychology, which we might consider dysfunctional if her sense of compositional elegance weren’t so fully functional.” Steve Mannheimar—Indianapolis Star.
Study from “The Quarrel.” ©️2022 Michelle Luke. Exhibited in the Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana. Limited Edition Prints.

11/03/2023

“Once there was a king who had three wonderful daughters. The youngest, Psyche, looked like a goddess among mere mortals. The fame of her beauty spread throughout the whole kingdom. When people saw her, they said that not even the goddess Aphrodite herself could compete with Psyche. Aphrodite could not accept such a situation and required help from her beautiful son, Eros, (as the Greeks called him), or Cupid (as the Romans called him). She told him in great distress, use your powers and make this shameless girl fall in love with the vilest and the most despicable creature who walks the earth. Eros agreed to do so but the moment he beheld her, he himself felt his heart pierced by one of his own arrows. He fell deeply in love.” In this image, Psyche is unaware of Eros. He is a god and she can’t see him. He is very aware of her. It is the second his heart is pierced.
“The Pierced Heart,” A study from “Cupid and Psyche.” Shot in Kalispell, MT. ©️2023 Michelle Luke, Limited Edition Prints.

11/03/2023

“The moment is totally within human experience. The sudden recognition in an unexpected glance that rocks you. The magnetizing attraction of the other.” —Michelle Luke, “The Sweet Ache, Desire” A study from “Connection” 2023, Paris. Limited Edition prints.

11/02/2023

Write “This image cunningly suggests both the playing of a harp and the act of weaving. It is also subtly erotic.” —Carl Toth, Artist and Educator. Study from “On Harriet’s Porch.” Shot in New Orleans. In the museum’s permanent collection at The Bibliothèque nationale de France. Limited Edition print, 6/25.

11/29/2022

Odalisque

The Odalisque was traditionally a female slave or concubine in a harem. In the world of art, it is a term we recognize as a sensual reclining female figure, who is subject to the male gaze. Classical male painters invited their viewers to take pleasure in the view and the fantasy it might evoke.
My Odalisque is making reference to this element of art history, with a twist. She invites her viewer to step into all the tactile sensuality on display in the square cushions of the velvet sofa, the curved line of her hip in the silk gown, and the smooth column of her slim bare leg. In short, she uses these to seduce you, before you realize what is actually on offer. What is central and what the camera is focused on—in fact, X marks the spot—is the round shape of her head. It is the seat of her intelligence, the interpreter of all her senses and emotions.

The female head houses her mind, and it is this, that is her most erotic organ.

~Michelle Luke

This same image was also chosen as a finalist in Evolve, and goes on exhibit today in Miami Beach at the Art Fair.

Tuesday, November 29th through Sunday, December 4th, 2022
at The SCOPE Art Fair in Miami Beach, USA, during Miami Art Week, 2022

11/29/2022

You’re Invited! Odalisque is coming down in Barcelona and going up in Miami Beach at the Basel Art Fair. 🥂🍾

To Evolve, v. ‘To change or develop gradually into a better, more complex, or more advanced state; to develop by a process of evolution’

“Nothing is more constant than change”

11/20/2022

Waking up in my cute apartment on the Rue Mouffetard in Paris! ❤️

11/18/2022

Just got this from Not Real Art out L.A.! Really nice article! I’m pleased! 😊 (there’s more, click link to read full write up: https://notrealart.com/michelle-luke/ ).

The agony. The ecstasy. The anticipation. The tension climbs, tightens, crescendos, until a cigarette arrives to whisk the pain away, if only temporarily. In her Isolated Lovers series, photographer Michelle Luke captures the exquisite anguish of waiting for a lover, their presence unassured, their affections infinitely capricious.

“How fragile we all are in these moments,” she says of her penetrating work. “The ego laid bare in an attempt to connect—to achieve intimacy. No one escapes this.”

11/10/2022

Not sure if it’s spot lit or if it’s generating it’s own glow! 😊 Aye Karumba! 💃 ¡Olé!

11/10/2022

Here is my piece, “Odalisque”, on exhibit at Valid World Hall, in Barcelona. You can see it shining there as soon as you come through the door.

11/05/2022