Wolfgang Tillmans

Wolfgang Tillmans (born 1968) is a German fine-art photographer. His diverse body of work is distinguished by observation of his surroundings and an ongoing investigation of the photographic medium’s foundations.

In 2000, Tillmans was the first photographer - and also the first non-English person - to be awarded the Tate annual Turner Prize. In 2009, he was awarded the Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie (The Culture Prize of the German Society for Photography). Tillmans lives in Berlin and London.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Tillmans

Tillmans puts it like this: “I take pictures, in order to see the world.”

Tillmans produces his photographs in different sizes and formats in meticulous wall-installations, combining them with photocopies, magazine and newspaper clippings

The photographs are sometimes taped directly onto the wall, presented in vitrines, or arranged on extensive table-installations

I don’t know what to think of Wolfgang tillmans work, on the one hand I like that it is sort of random and disjointed, like random moments from his life or something, but on the other hand is dislike that its random. They are almost pointless snapshots punctuated by repeated pictures of penises. However I do like to view each image and read each story that goes on in each image. Some pictures are abstract prints and photographs of blocks of gold bars, and pictures of mess.

I like the almost random, but well thought out grid to this installation. I don't think I am much a fan of the content but I like the way it goes around the corner and has pictures in different sizes and at different heights on the wall. This dictates how the viewer moves around the space. They have to crane their necks to look up and down, and move closer and further away from the wall to look at each photograph. I think he has done this because he wants some pictures to be viewed in a different way. For example the picture of the man urinating on a chair he wants to be viewed as a statement, to make it bold and for the viewer to take it in, so you have to move backwards to view the whole picture, standing back makes you pause so you spend longer looking at the photograph. Smaller picture bring the viewer in closer and are more intimate, highlighting the lack of intimacy of the man urinating on the chair.

Again I admire the grid structure and the way it works on two walls. The photographs are no longer flat, printed on paper, but become objects.