PHOTOGRAPHS
Tillmans, Wolfgang
Germany (1968 - )
Strings of Life
1999
Dye transfer print
11 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (29.2 x 24.1 cm) image size; 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm) sheet size
Gift of Burt and Jane Berman
FA 2002.48

In a recent series, Wolfgang Tillmans creates abstract, gestural compositions using a camera-less photographic technique. Although unwilling to reveal his exact process, Tillmans manipulates light sources to produce various pictorial effects on photo sensitive paper. Seen here, the lines and gestures created are not entirely predetermined by the artist, instead an element of chance exists.

German-born Wolfgang Tillmans has emerged as one of the most influential and innovative photographers of his generation. His photographs documenting underground music and fashion first appeared in the early 1990s in the pages of such magazines as I-D, Interview, and The Face. Tillmans has become known for his salon-style hangings of unframed photographic prints attached to gallery walls. He groups portraits, still-lifes, landscapes, and abstractions span provocative images of sexual taboo to moments of classical beauty found in unusual or unlikely places (“Wolfgang Tillmans,” http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/tillman.html). -- Label copy for 150 Works of Art, October 1, 2005 to February 26, 2006.