Wolfgang Tillmans , recognized by one of the most famous photographers in our world, has dealt with photo art . Since then he has gone through a not straightforward but fascinating development in which he researched "the last depths of photography":
It started with everyday images, with a very precise look for the essentials in the insignificant, perhaps only from the bedroom and the kitchen of his mother. At that time, Tillmans was already interested in various forms of the layout and collected photographs of people who could express something with their pictures.
So quickly you become an idol ...
Tillmans came into contact with the English youth culture and the leading style and music magazines in England as a 15-year-old language student in England as a 15-year-old language student in England. After graduating from high school, Tillmans moved from his hometown Remscheid to Hamburg, that was 1987.
He moved in Hamburg's degree of rave scene , photographed, received orders from the English magazine "ID" and Hamburg scene magazines, was asked for the recognized portraitist of the Raver and for solo exhibitions in Hamburg cultural centers-and was financially independent, before he really got it.
Tillmans did not satisfy the success as a visual mirror of nightlife, he asked more of himself and from photography and studied from 1990 to 1992 at the Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design. In 1992 we went to London, in 1994 to New York, in 1996 with the painter and photographer Jochen Klein, who had now become his partner, back to London. Always with the camera, always looking for motifs.
In these early nineties, Tillmans photographed all friends and other young people in his immediate vicinity, and these recordings made him famous.
His photos were considered a style -forming, the recordings of the European Gay Pride in London (1992) or the Love Parade in Berlin (1992) were regarded as important evidence of contemporary history and documentation of current social currents.
Wolfgang Tillmans became the chronicler of his generation , which was published in all relevant magazines and was paid well, life ran round.
The scene, which Tillmans put so impressive and detailed into the picture, celebrated it without reason to be unemployed, at that time AIDS still an almost completely uncontrolled threat, Tillman's partner Klein died in 1997.
... but don't have to stay there
Tillmans had certainly fulfilled the position of the photographic rapporteur of the scene people and the rebellious to perplexed youth of the time in an exceptional artistic brilliant:
Series such as those of his friends Lutz and Alex (1992) are certainly rightly considered icons of photography and at the same time as a very precise view of the zeitgeist of the 1990s, and during this time he tested a wide variety of photographic practices and expanded his work into a wide variety of genres.
But not in order to be limited to the bloom of youth in the clubs and the gay scene forever, took Tillmans and "takes pictures to recognize the world", and the world is greater than the night streets and the way to your own style is further.
Especially from 1997, numerous photo boards were taken, in addition to the topic of "homosexuality and gender", Tillmans worked on the artificial painting photographic recording of astronomical phenomena and still life, on landscapes and heavenly views and unusual supervision, sloping aerial photographs and converted church vaults, always aesthetic, mostly surprising and not only worrying occasionally.
With the same creativity and joy of independent, often new orientation, Tillmans goes to the presentation of his work results: Tillmans stages his photographs-in different formats, in different sizes, entire walls become carefully composed photo installations.
The photos also remain not only with their task to convey the intended expression, you will receive support for photocopies, printed newspaper pages, high-gloss magazine images and are presented with exact calculation, not always in the usual vertical, but in inclined position, in the middle of a room in a large table installations, as an arrangement in a display case.
Tillman's photos live, they are on the move, they always make themselves new to their job in new contexts to recognize the world.
As the titles tell ...
Better than any description, the names of the various individual exhibitions Wolfgang Tillmans illustrate the meaning and search in his work when they are presented in time consequences:
In 1988 it was the "Approaches" ("rapprochement", Café Gnosa, Hamburg), a title in 1996 stated "Who love dares to live tomorrow" (art museum Wolfsburg), a second lay "folding throws" (Galerie Buchholz, Cologne). In 1998 "I didn't inhale" (Chisenhale Gallery, London) are less to show the mendment of the world than create a world in which the work and title creator would like to live (at least one commentator says).
In 1999, "Fruiciones" ("delights", Museo Nacional Reina Sofia, Espacio Uno, Madrid) are the turn, but also "Soldiers" (new Aachen Kunstverein) and "Saros" (Galerie Buchholz, Cologne), an astronomical period model for predicting solaries and moon and moon and moon.
2001 and 2002 follow "Science fiction / here and now" (with Isa Genzken , Museum Ludwig, Cologne) and various supervisors: "supervision" (Deichtorhallen, Hamburg) "Vue d'en Haut" , (Palais de Tokyo, Paris), "Veduta dall'alto" , ("increased", Castello di rivoli, muso d'Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli, Turin).
"If One Thing Matters, Everything Matters" , ("If one thing is important, everything is important", Tate Britain, London) it is found in 2003 that follows a "View from Above" ("View from above", Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark) and 2004 The "Freischschimmer" (Tokyo City Art gallery, Tokyo).
In 2005, Tillmans presented the Berlin Poland market in "Markt" (Merrettich gallery, Berlin) at the time of the wall opening and opens a "Truth Study Center" ("Center to Study of Truth", Meureen Paley, London), which in 2006 the "Freedom From The Known" ("Freedom", Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago) certified.
In 2007, "Bali" (Kestner Society, Hanover, without a limitation to Bali) opens up that the possibility of worldwide information distribution does not necessarily raise the quality of the information, but is used by profit addicts and narrow -minded people to use their lying dream worlds, prejudices and dogmas to the whole world.
In 2008, "Lighter" (Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin) invites you to an extensive journey through Tillman's work history of the past 20 years, a diverse and exciting, even exhaustive show, which clearly shows that Tillman's curiosity about the rest of the world and empathy for the rest of the world have not become less.
In "Zacheta, encouragement" (National Art Gallery Zacheta, Warsaw), in which Tillmans shows a configuration of work specially for the Warsaw exhibition rooms - not unusual, he always makes work, he is showing the topic of "Bali": Tillman's work has been shown since the millennium.
Selected photographs by Wolfgang Tillmans on Pinterest
Tillmans has been more and more clear during this period in his work against the absolute claim of truth, want to put on the ideologies and religions to his medium, and he increasingly asked the viewers to distrust their own prejudices when they look at the world.
The exhibition took over the name of the traditional Warsaw exhibition location with ulterior motives, Tillmans wants to encourage visitors to trust their own eyes and their own instinct.
In 2013, “Silver” presented for the first time, in the Buchholz gallery in Berlin, a group of work that Tillmans has been working for over a decade, and in London the “Central Nervous System” starts in the Gallery Maureen Paley. Silver also contains silver, but above all a true intoxication of colors, and the central nervous system belongs to humans, and humans are part of this exhibition.
More should not be revealed here about these recent projects so as not to spoil the fun: If you missed the 2013 exhibitions, you can take a close look at an endless series of pictures of these exhibitions on the artist's website.
Direct link to Silver: Bildlink , in the middle of the central nervous system you can reach Bildlink .
Tillmans art does not stay in the gallery
After Tillman's beginnings, it is actually clear: Wolfgang Tillmans is not a photo artist who can only be admired in exhibitions and can be celebrated on vernissages, but does more, is more committed, has more ideas.
In 2001 Tillmans took part in a competition from the city of Munich to design an AIDS memorial at Sendlinger Tor "Sendlinger Tor" subway station .
In 2002 Tillman's recordings of mice that live in the London subway, put together a video clip for the "Pet Shop Boys" , matching the single "Home & Dry" .
Would you like to see the mice dancing? Please very much:
In 2006, Tillmans opened his non -commercial exhibition space "Between Bridges" in London, with a work show by the New York artist and activist David Wojnarowicz. Wojnarowicz was Tillmans through his appearance in the film "Silence = Death" (Rosa von Praunheim, 1990) and noticed through his writings, he died in 1992 on the consequences of AIDS and is one of the artists who want to devote Tillmans to the gallery: in his view, too little -respected artists, especially with political concerns.
Tillmans have been living in London and Berlin since 2007, and now the good news for Berliner and Berlin visitors: "Between Bridges" moved to Berlin, to Keithstrasse in Schöneberg (Berlin visitors: This is a few minutes' walk from the legendary department store of the West), and opened in January 2014, more below.
Order the art specialists
Tillman's work is incredibly diverse, he has approached photography from each side that seems conceivable, and with ever new ideas. This is too messy art specialists, they order his work in sections, with clear separations based on the perceived development levels:
The scene and youth culture documentaries are usually summarized as beginnings in which Tillmans stand out as an extraordinary photographic biographer of his time from around 1987 to around 1995.
Then he is granted a development time until the turn of the millennium, with study and experiments and creating a new world view in the presentation of photographs.
From 2000, the abstractions follow, in which Tillmans further stretches the boundaries of photography, with a haptic approach and inclusion of the three -dimensional space. He also explored the chemistry of photography, in the darkroom works are created without the use of a camera and thus also completely new image structures. As a result, "abstract" and "concrete" work merge, and the photo paper becomes the object of photography.
From 2006 a reorientation is again observed: Tillmans begins with large -format works, for which he uses photocopies as the starting material, and replaces the usual presentation with the table work of the "Truth Study Center" .
With his journey around the world, on which the worldviews for his exhibition and book project "Neue Welt" (to see since 2009), Tillmans has finally opened up to digital photography, after he had almost exclusively in use of his "contax" (analog SLAST reflex lye). In it, Tillman's departure is finally seen into the world of new technology, which he refused for so long ...
The sequence is certainly fundamentally correct, everyone will agree to Wolfgang Tillmans for a long time, but Tillmans can certainly not be categorized in a beautiful ordinary order: he has already experimented with photocopies when he worked as a telephony in Hamburg in Hamburg, and experimented and collected knowledge and photos before his "beginnings" as a documenter of the youth culture.
He studied exactly at the time when he photographed the "People en Mass" , experiments with abstraction always existed in his photos, as well as playing with formats is an old hat, and he used a digital camera for the recordings on the world tour; However, this does not mean that his contax can retire: If Tillmans have a look at the built-in monitor in 2012 as the "complete up-to-head position of the psychology of photography, which was always a dialogue between the photographer, object and the imaginary image that you imagine, thinks, hopes", he is obviously missing from the Digis.
Wolfgang Tillman's development ran just as life usually runs, a lot happens while you are planning, a lot of thoughts are torn down, partly persecuted and at some point resumed, many projects change during work.
Upwards, unstoppable
A movement in Wolfgang Tillman's life was pretty even: the development towards more and more celebrity, and associated with more and more appreciation.
In retrospect, this is logical, one often hears from photography students who usually admired photographs of a wide variety of subject areas under Tillman's photos early in their studies:
"I always wanted to create portraits (landscape recordings, abstract pictures, photos of unusual arrangements ...) with a very specific artistic expression that I never succeeded, and then I saw a portrait (landscape recording, abstract picture, photo of an unusual arrangement ...) by Wolfgang Tillmans, and he caught in exactly what I wanted to express"
Not only photography students noticed Tillman's extraordinary talent and unwavering accuracy, but also many critics, and gallery owners, and their customers.
Perhaps the best proof of Tillman's outstanding quality is that in 2000-as the first non-Englander, and as the first photographer-the gymnast prize of the London Tate Gallery was awarded, probably the most important European prize for contemporary art.
Exhibitions and awards, not too short
The first solo exhibitions in Tillmans can be seen in Hamburg from 1988 and in his hometown, in the Café Gnosa, in the front, in the Frooto Forum, in the Remscheid city library. The gray value gallery followed in 1991 and the PPS in 1992. Galerie FC Gundlach, still Hamburg, 1993 Frankfurt, Zurich and London and 1994 Paris and New York. From 1995 to 1999, Tillmans can be seen in almost 30 solo exhibitions around the world, from 2000 to 2012 in over 70 individual exhibitions.
Tillmans was represented at around 350 group exhibitions, also all over the world, and there were also a few more than the Turner Prize:
- 1995 the Ars Viva Art Prize of Böttcherstraße, Bremen
- 2001 The Honorary Fellowship of The Arts Institute at Bournemouth for the design of the AIDS Memorial Sendlinger Tor, Munich
- 2009 the Cultural Prize of the German Society for Photography
- Tilllman's "Artist Trustee" has been the Board of Tate, London since 2009
From around 2005, Tillman's works conquered the really large museums, in solo exhibitions , e.g. B. the Hammer Museum Los Angeles, the Hirschhorn Museum Washington DC, the art collection NRW, K21, Düsseldorf, the Kunstverein Munich, the Moderna Museet Stockholm, the MoMA in New York, the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the National Gallery in Berlin, the Pinakothek der Moderne, that PS1 Contemporary Art Center New York and the Tate Britain London.
Awards safe
Tillmans started passing on his knowledge early on:
- From 1998 to 1999, at just 30 years, he perceived a visiting professorship at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg.
- From 2003 to 2006 he taught as a professor of interdisciplinary art at the State University of Fine Arts - Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main.
- Since 2012 he has been a member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin.
- In 2013 he was appointed Member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
Where Tillmans teaches, the lecture halls are full, not only because the "star of photography" can pass on his knowledge well, but also because it is highly valued by the students because of his pleasant, calm manner.
- Wolfgang Tillmans Current
Tillmans will issue Berlin in his (partial) adopted home until the end of 2014:
From November 8, 2013 to December 31, 2014, Wolfgang Tillman's "Expansion of the fighting zone" with pictures from 1968 to 2000 can be seen in the new National Gallery Berlin.
There is a small preview under Bildlink .
Wolfgang Tillmans is always up to date , and this website is designed as comfortably for the user as rarely an artist website (and especially website at all).
The first thing you notice is that someone who understands his craft was at work here - the website appears in the search engine after entering Wolfgang Tillman! Immediately! Before Wiki (nothing against Wiki, important and great, it's just astonishing), two pages before the first video on Duglotz, four pages before the first attack by the Amazons on the wallet's wallet ... Can Wolfgang Tillmans conjure up annoying websites with telepathic photo beams to the net? Sorry, the author is going through the imagination, a few days of dealing with Wolfgang Tillmans just put you in a good mood ...
Secondly, the pleasantly simple and readable, eye-friendly, factual, targeted design stands out (look at some artist websites, then you know what I mean), the third is noticed that the page offers a lot:
The first thing you find on the top left of the page (finally modeled on our visual habits, not somewhere on the right on the edge or below) you will find the "Exhibition Calendar", the current exhibition calendar.
Under "New Installation Views" you can see what is going on or is going on in the Tillmans world, what does it mean to see here, you can click into each of the topics listed and can look at a lot of other "views".
In the "Installation Views Archive" you will find an archive that gives you insights into an incredible 34 past exhibitions , and under "Book Downloads" you will actually enable you:
You can download a total of eight of the books compiled by Tillmans as a PDF , including those that have long been sold out as print. Here is the list to make an appetite:
- Zachęta encouragement, zachęta narodowa galeria sztuki, art collection in North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf, 2011
- Wolfgang Tillmans, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Brochure, 2010
- Wolfgang Tillmans. London: Serpentine Gallery, Koenig Books London, 2010
- Wako Book 4. Tokyo: Wako Works of Art, 2008, Wako Works of Art
- Why we must Provide HIV Treatment Information. Photography by Wolfgang Tillmans. London: HIV I-Base, 2007
- Wolfgang Tillmans. Los Angeles. New Haven and London: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 2006
- Wako Book 3. Tokyo: Wako Works of Art, 2004
- Wako Book 2. Tokyo: Wako Works of Art, 2001
If you want to spend a little more, Wolfgang Tillman's book Collector's Edition from Hatje Cantz Verlag a work overview with 2400 photographs that were created on the occasion of the Tate Exhibition for 800 euros. The Collectors Edition shows its entire artistic development from the beginning of 1978 to 2003, information on Edition Hatje Cantz: Wolfgang Tillmans , there are still a number of other exclusive Tillman art books.
The menu item "All Books" contains exactly this: Simply a list of all artists' books/catalogs previously created by Tillmans (is not distinguished, also has little sense, Tillmans also puts together his catalogs with a lot of care and love). Here, too, Service, Verlag, ISBN and, if necessary, download-link are of course included. Incidentally, it is absolutely worthwhile to look at this list - there is no boredom or repetition at Tillman's books, just as little as with his photos.
The menu point "Betweenbridges.net" kindly leads there immediately, in a new window, first you will find out the address, opening times and the currently running exhibition, below on the page, which will soon be going on. "Lectures" leads to readings, with the manuscripts as a PDF for download, "interviews" to interviews, of course also to download immediately, as well as the "Essays & Reviews" (reviews ", and if you now know Tillmans a little, you know that he has not only selected the nicest) on the following page.
Only the "Biography/Bibliography" is not available for download by clicking, the artist is probably too modest, but the clear and minimalist design makes it easy to activate the whole page and copy it into a text format.
Are you wondering how someone can do it in such a way that a website is well made, easy to read and easy to use? Then you probably work in a job in which you do not research for hours on the net for hours ...
Many of the art lovers who read this article will definitely remember the Documenta 13 website and how "beautiful" it was to get information there.
A tip appears, however, at the end: plan some time if you go to Wolfgang Tillmans' side, you will definitely get stuck there for a while ...
By the way, you can find out more about Wolfgang Tillman's life in the article "Wolfgang Tillmans: a life for a picture of the world" .
