Kevin Abosch, an Irish visual artist known for his portrait photography, reportedly sold a potato portrait in 2015 for 1 million euros (approximately NT$36.56 million). This not only became the most expensive single photograph sold by him personally, but also made this Irish potato one of the most expensive photos in the world.
Abbsh, who was interviewed by "Shanghai Daily" before visiting Taiwan, explained via email that "honesty" will be a characteristic that runs through his works in many fields. In portraiture, this especially refers to "the practice of taking off masks," no matter what identity or reputation those masks represent. "My hope is that even if the subject is an inanimate object, the viewer will be able to see some part of themselves in any of my portraits," said Albersh.
"Potato No. 345." (Studio Kevin Abosch)
49-year-old Abosch has taken portraits of many well-known figures, such as Malala Yousafzai, Aung San Suu Kyi, Bob Geldof, Johnny Depp (Johnny Depp) and Dustin Hoffman (Dustin Hoffman) etc. Many top tech industry executives are his clients, including Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
The backgrounds of Abersh's portraits are mostly pure black, with a sense of objectivity and precision that looks directly at the essence. The 2010 work "Potato #345" was reportedly sold to a German businessman for a high price of 1 million euros. His general portraits cost about 200,000 euros (approximately NT$7.3 million).
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala.
"Understand yourself by studying others"
Being a photographer is not the only identity of Aiboshi. Abelsh, who majored in microbiology in college, is also a software engineer and technology entrepreneur. It has launched the black-and-white photography application "Lenka" and the color version "Kimiko", which have been well received by the photography industry, as well as the image processing platform "Dippix".
Abbsh founded the intelligent information technology company "Kwikdesk" in 2013. Its products include the encrypted messaging application "OneOne" and the encryption-assisted application programming interface (API) "CryptoShift". In 2015, Kwikdesk established a deep learning laboratory in Massachusetts, USA, to further develop artificial intelligence "Charlie AI" that enhances smart devices.
Abbsh once described the anonymous messaging platform "Kwikdesk" as a conceptual art project of his that explores different aspects of human nature. "Kwikdesk" claims to be a "Snapchat combined with Twitter" platform. Users can send anonymous public messages that are automatically destroyed within a time limit and can only be read by searching for specific tags or keywords.
Albersh, who calls himself a "philosophical anthropologist," said that his research interest lies in interpersonal interaction, "the interactive relationship between individuals in the context of civilized society, especially the boundaries of personal existence." Through creation, he proposed Ontological questions and waiting for answers. “I learn about myself by studying other people,” he says.
His camera lens and even his artistic medium are the channels of this passion, not the goal. "I have no passion for making art. For me, making art is an intrinsic obligation, an action that I have to do or else everything starts to fall apart," Albersh explained.
