You’ve already seen Wolfgang Tillmans’ work. Quite nearly anyone who follows photography has seen work that contains the same still life’s, urban culture, etc. Tillmans photographs cliché subjects, more over, he photographs some of the most cliché subjects you can think of, but he does it well. According to Jerry Saltz, he has a way of making “something powerful and personal out of [the most] impossibly clichéd subjects.” I know I’ve seen dozens or more photos of a bird eating or a shadow from a piece of paper, or a slice of urban architecture, but Tillmans proves that the subject matter is not nearly as important as the artist’s eye. In my own work I’m taking an extremely “been done” subject matter and attempting to make my viewer rethink and “resee” their family connections. While our subject matter differs, our goals are the same, we both want our viewers to see something familiar in a new way.
Wolfgang Tillmans
b. 1968, Germany
“Wolfgang Tillmans is a fast-starter. Within just a few years, he succeeds in rising from a young German provincial photographer to become the star of the international art scene. Even before his study from 1990-92 at the Bournemouth & Poole College of Art and Design, Tillmans has a number of small exhibitions and is published in various 'Zeitgeist' magazines. This crossover between photographic art and lifestyle remains a noticeable constant in his work. At first glance, Tillmans' pictures look like snapshots, authentic documents of a metropolitan subculture. In fact, they are carefully staged interpretations of reality. Tillmans translates his personal experiences and sensations into pictures. He photographs what he loves. His glance is without cynical distance. The people know that they are being photographed. They are not objects - they are accomplices who are helping Tillmans to present his subjective view of reality. This honesty in the generating process is what gives the pictures their warmth and credibility. For exhibitions, Tillmans combines the photographs of people with still life photos, cityscapes and landscapes to create spacious collages. Without glass or frame, he simply sticks the pictures to the wall. The colour enlargements adjoin torn-out newspaper pages and ink-jet prints. In the museum too. Tillmans strives for pure expression, without idealisation or excess. With this style, he has a definitive effect on the aesthetics of the nineties and become the model for a whole generation. In 1993, his first major exhibition is held at Daniel Buchholz in Cologne, followed in 1995 by the Kunsthalle, Zurich, and the Portikus, Frankfurt, and then the Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, in 1996. In the same year, he also shows his works at the "New Photography" group exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Tillmans is the first photographer to win the Turner Prize, in 2001, which is one of the most significant awards for contemporary art.”
"Wolfgang Tillmans - Biography and Offers." Ketter Kunst. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov 2010. <http://www.kettererkunst.com/bio/WolfgangTillmans-1968.shtml>.
“Tillmans is interested in the skin of the world, the way it changes over the years.”
Cumming, Laura. "Wolfgang Tillmans | Art Review | Art and Design | The Observer." guardian.co.uk. Guardian News and Media Limited, 27 Jun 2010. Web. 15 Nov 2010. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jun/27/wolfgang-tillmans-serpentine-review-cumming>.
“In one shot, a man is in the Ganges, but he’s presented from such an odd angle that Tillmans avoids both the hopelessly generic and easy exploitation.”
Saltz, Jerry. "Jerry Saltz on Wolfgang Tillmans -- New York Magazine Art Review." New York Magazine. New York Media LLC, 14 Feb 2010. Web. 15 Nov 2010. <http://nymag.com/arts/art/reviews/63774/>.
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