Anthony Kurtz

photography, urban photography, urban photo, protest photography, apocalypse, apocalyptic photography, India, India pictures, India photography, San Francisco photography, China Basin, New York photography, brooklyn photography, Fine art photography

Anthony Kurtz is a young, up and coming, San Francisco based Street-Photographer. His sociopolitical series on "The world of Today, the world of Tomorrow" and his India series "Beautiful Struggle" have garnished him with several awards including the "International Photo Awards" (IPA) and the global "Prix de Photographie de Paris" (PX3) competition.

Anthony Kurtz seeks to challenge complacent acceptance of the present with his futuristic vision of a post-apocalyptic world. Illuminating the relationship between the current climate of mass-consumerism and a worst-case scenario of the results of our excess, 2012 (a year which also heralds the widely anticipated end of the Mayan calendar) is a prophecy we still have a chance to avoid.
Anthony is personally fascinated by the contrast between blight and renewal, decay and regeneration. He finds beauty embedded within the textures and grit of the urban landscape. Abandoned lots and deserted buildings proliferate his world, punctuated by the steady gaze of voiceless protesters and dramatic expanses of stormy skies.
He regards each photograph as a new canvas on which he obsessively paints in light and shadow, using modern retouching techniques. Anthony regards the art of photography as an act of storytelling, each picture a point in time within a greater narrative. The message and the mood each image evokes are just as important to him as composition. He invites the observer to create their own interpretation of the events he has recorded, as well as those which have occurred beyond the scope of his lens. Above all, he seeks to not only communicate his own vision, but to inspire thoughtful communication between others.

One hour into his first Psychology class, Anthony Kurtz walked out of the sciences forever and into the arts. Quitting his long-time home of Geneva, Switzerland for San Francisco, Anthony began attending the Academy of Art University in 2001, studying New Media and Graphic Design. In the Fall of 2002, he attended a mandatory liberal-arts class: Intro to Photography. Without any further education in the field, he continued to learn on his spare time while simultaneously pursuing his degree in New Media. In March 2003, he acquired his first SLR camera and documented the anti-war protests that shut down the City of San Francisco following the invasion of Iraq. His compulsion for documentation has garnered him several awards, including:
PX3 Awards 2008 (Prix de la Photographie Paris):
First Prize in category Fine Art, People
Second Prize in Major category Fine Art
Second Prize in category Book Proposal
Published in 2008 PX3 Awards Book
International Photo Awards 2007 (Honorable Mentions in Feature Story, Editorial and Life Style)
International Photo Awards 2006 (Honorable Mentions in Feature Story, Landscape, Still Life and Trees)
International Photo Awards 2005 (First Place in Nature category, Honorable Mention in Bridges, Buildings, Editorial, People, Lifestyle and Self-portrait.
Published in 2005 Lucie Awards Book.
Urban Exploration Photography Contest (Nominated in three categories)
AAU Spring Show 2005, Nominated in Video, Audio, Imaging and Photography. AAU Spring Show 2004, First Place in Digital Photography, First Place Student’s Choice Award in Digital Photography, nominated in Video.

Anthony has displayed his work in numerous galleries including:
Acte2 for PX3 Awards, Paris, France
W-hotel with Unscene, San Francisco, CA
ARTworkSF , San Francisco, CA
111Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Fort Mason’s Herbst Pavillion, San Francisco, CA
Dogpatch Studios, San Francisco, CA
Effection Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Element Lounge, San Francisco, CA
Middle River Art Gallery, Connecticut
AAU Spring Show (2005-2002), San Francisco, CA