Born in 1985, Mike Brodie began photographing when he was given a Polaroid camera in 2004. Working under the moniker 'The Polaroid Kidd,' Brodie spent the next four years circumambulating the United States, amassing an archive of photographs that make up one of the few, true collections of American travel photography. Brodie made work in the tradition of photographers like Robert Frank, William Eggleston and Stephen Shore, but due to never having undergone any formal training he always remained untethered to the pressures and expectations of art market.
Brodie compulsively documented his exploration of the tumultuous world of transient subcultures without regard to how the photographs would exist beyond him. After feeling as though he documented all that he could of his subject, his insatiable wanderlust found a new passion, and as quickly as he began making photographs, he has left the medium to continue in his constant pursuit of new adventures.
In 2008, Brodie received the Baum Award for American Emerging Artists and has a forthcoming book to be published by Steidl, as well as numerous international shows. Brodie recently graduated from the Nashville Auto Diesel College (NADC) and is now working as a diesel mechanic. Although Brodie has stopped making photographs, the body of work he made in only four short years has left a huge impact on the photo world, and is now being made available to the public.
| BORN | |
| 1985, Arizona | |
| SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS | |
| 2014 | A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Galerie Les filles du calvaire, Paris, Fr |
| 2013 | A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA |
| A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, CA | |
| A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, NY | |
| 2007 | Ridin' Dirty Face, Needles and Pens, San Francisco, CA |
| Mike Brodie Photographs, Casa del Lago, Chapultepec, Mexico | |
| Tones of Dirt and Bone, Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York, NY | |
| Homesteadaz, Get This! Gallery, Atlanta, GA | |
| 2006 | Tones of Dirt and Bone, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, CA |
| Homesteadaz, Get This! Gallery, Atlanta, GA | |
| SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS | |
| 2015 | Sitter, Canzani Center Gallery, Columbus College of the Art & Design, Columbus, OH |
| 2014 | Collector's Favorites, Leica Gallery, Los Angeles, CA |
| Only the Good Ones: The Snapshot Aesthetic Revisited, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic | |
| SPACE, Sundance, Park City, UT | |
| 2013 | Perchance to Dream, Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York, NY |
| 2011 | idyll, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, California |
| Minor Cropping May Occur: (selected diaries 1962-2011), Lombard-Freid Projects, New York, NY | |
| 2010 | Personal Identities/ Contemporary Portraits, Sonoma State University, Sonoma, CA |
| BROKEN LINES (curated by Nadia Ismail), Anna Klinkhammer Galerie, Dusseldorf, Germany | |
| 2008 | Presumed Innocence, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA |
| 2007 | Swoon, Chris Stain, Mike Brodie, Gallery LJ Beaubourg, Paris, FR |
| AWARDS | |
| 2008 | The Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers |
| PUBLICATIONS | |
| 2012 | A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Twin Palms Publishers |
| 2006 | Tones of dirt and bone, TBW Books, 2006 |
| SELECTED PRESS | |
| 2015 | "Disposable Cameras," Studio Voice, December 2015 |
| O'Hagan, Sean. "Riding the rails: Mike Brodie's romantic Polaroids of freight-train life," The Guardian, March 26 | |
| 2014 | Philips, Ed. "10 Game-Changing Photography Books," Highsnobiety, September 4 |
| 2013 | Ryzik, Melena. "Sidestepping the Digital Demimonde," The New York Times, November 8 |
| Baker, Kenneth. "A keen shutter reflex from Mike Brodie at Wirtz" SFGate, October 4, 2013 | |
| Dyer, Geoff. "Artist in Training: Mike Brodie's Photographs of Life On and Off the Rails" Bookforum, June/July/Aug 2013 | |
| PDN, The Photo Book Issue, August (Cover Image) | |
| Phat Photo (JPN), July (Covery Image) | |
| Cornish, Audie. "All Things Considered: Trains, Punks, Pictures And Books You Maybe Shouldn't Read" NPR, April 12, 2013 | |
| Ahearn, Meghan. "Photo of the Day: King of the Road," pdn, March 15, 2013 | |
| Cooper, Charlie. "Railroads to Freedom: The drifters living and dreaming on America's freight trains," The Independent, March 8, 2013 | |
| Zhong, Fan. "Mike Brodie: The Kid Stays In The Pictures," W Magazine, March 6, 2013 | |
| McCauley. "After Puberty and Before Manhood: A Period of Juvenile Prosperity," The New Yorker, January 29, 2013 | |
| 2011 | Enzinna, Wes. "The Train Photography of Mike Brodie," Oxford American, June, 2011 |
| "Goings on about Town: Art," The New Yorker, June 19, 2011 | |
| Raphael, Sarah. "Minor Cropping May Occur," i-D, February 17, 2011 | |
| Smith, Roberta. "Art in Review: Minor Cropping May Occur," The New York Times, March 10, 2011 | |
| 2007 | Johnson, Miki. "Inside Photography: New Talent, Exception to the Rule" American Photo, July, 2007 |
| "Galleries - Uptown," The New Yorker, March 5, 2007 | |
| "Mike Brodie: Bound by Tones of Dirt and Bone," HUGE Magazine, Japan | |
| 2006 | "Inside My Head: One Person's Photos," Look Look, 2006 |
| Dailey, Nichelle. "These Birds Walk Publishing," Mass Appeal Magazine, 2006 | |
| Feliciano, Kristina. "Exposures: Connect Four," PDN, November 2006 | |
| Derballa, Bryan. "Mike Brodie: The Polaroid Kid," SOMA October 2006 | |
| COLLECTIONS | |
| The Sir Elton John Photography Collection | |
| San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California | |
| Berkeley Museum of Art, California | |