Page "Wolfgang Tillmans" Paragraph 11

Tillmans exhibited his first abstract and damaged pictures as a Parkett edition in 1998.

The edition, 60 unique works on color-negative photographic paper collected by the artist since he began colour printing in 1990, was a combination of true darkroom mistakes and years of darkroom experimentation that they inspired.

Since 2000, Tillmans has become increasingly interested in the chemical foundations of photographic material as well as its haptic and spatial possibilities.

The " Conquistador " series of photographs were the first of these interventions to be exhibited.

Later works, created directly in the darkroom without the use of a camera and often largely accidental, ( i. e. “ Blushes ”, " Mental Pictures ", and “ Freischwimmer ”), present photography as a self-referential medium — one that could serve as an experimental ground for the creation of a new type of image structure.

These “ abstract ” works now appear next to the figurative photographs.

In " Blushes ", fine, thread-like lines, apparently drawn with light, swim over the surface of the photographic paper, and create delicate, fluid patterns.

Tillmans further explores the bounds of photography as a medium in his “ paper drop ” series ( 2001 – 8 ).

Tillmans started to make ‘ paper drop ’ images depicting photographic paper specifically exposed to coloured light in his darkroom in 2001.

He creates extraordinary sculptural forms in photographic paper, then by photographing them returns them to the accustomed flatness of that same medium.

Photography ’ s step from ‘ picture ’ to ‘ object ’ is best demonstrated in the works from the “ Lighter ” Series ( 2005 – 8 ), in which the artist dropped the act of photographing and allowed the photographs-in their three dimensional form-to only represent themselves, recalling his ongoing series " Impossible Color " ( 1996 – present ).

These colourful photo-paper works are folded, creased or otherwise manipulated, allowing for a subtle play with the material surface and the resulting illusion of lines and contrast.

Contained under Plexiglas lids, they have a rather sculptural quality.