Wolfgang Tillmans
Encyclopedia
Wolfgang Tillmans is a German Fine-art photographer and artist. His comprehensive and 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 artist to be awarded the Turner Prize
. In 2009, he was awarded the Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie (The Culture Prize of the German Society for Photography).
Since 1995, Wolfgang Tillmans has lived and worked in London. During the summer of 1998, Tillmans participated in a month-long residency at the last active Shaker community
in the world, in Sabbathday Lake, Maine. Since 2007, he has divided his time between Berlin and London. Following a guest professorship at the Hochschule für bildende Kunst in Hamburg from 1998 to 1999 and his Honorary Fellowship at the Arts University College at Bournemouth in 2001, Tillmans has been a professor for Interdisciplinary Art at the Städelschule
in Frankfurt am Main since 2003. In 2001, Tillmans was awarded first prize in the competition for the design of the AIDS-Memorial for the City of Munich, whereupon the memorial was erected after his designs at the Sendlinger Tor
.
In 2011, Tillmans travelled to Haiti with the charity Christian Aid
to document reconstruction work after the country's devastating earthquake one year before.
, Spex
, Interview, SZ-Magazin
and Butt-Magazine, and have established his reputation as a prominent witness of a contemporary social movement. He was made co-editor of Spex in 1997. For the Index Magazine, he shot covers and assignments, including images of John Waters
, Gilbert & George, and Udo Kier
.
Tillmans was considered the “documentarian of his generation, especially that of the London club- and gay-scenes.” The series of his friends Lutz and Alex, also published in i-D in 1992, are considered important photographic documents of the 1990s. From 1992 to 1994 Tillmans lived and worked in London, moving to New York in 1994. During this time, he began to show more frequently, developing an exhibition style that consisted of nonhierarchical arrangements of unframed photographs pinned or taped onto the gallery’s walls. Color photographs are placed next to inkjet prints and next to postcards and magazine clippings of his own images, reaching almost to the ceiling and the floor. He views each exhibition as a site-specific installation, often addressing the exhibition space as a larger composition.
Concorde Grid
The 56 photographs of equal dimensions that make up the Concorde Grid were taken in and around London as part of a commission for Tillmans’ exhibition at Chisenhale Gallery in 1997. They were shot from a wide range of places including private gardens, parks, railway tracks and the perimeter fence around Heathrow airport, recording the daily passing of the airplane.
Abstractions
Tillmans exhibited his first abstract and damaged pictures as a Parkett
edition in 1998. Since 2000, Tillmans has become increasingly interested in the chemical foundations of photographic material as well as its haptic and spatial possibilities. These 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. Tillmans further explores the bounds of photography as a medium in his “paper drop” series (2001–8). Here, 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), 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.
Photocopies
Tillman's first exhibition in 1988 was composed exclusively of images that were created with the latest kind of monochrome laser copier. He himself regards these so-called Approach pictures (1987-1988) as "first work before I even owned a camera". Over the years, Tillmans has often returned to this medium, which has remained a fixed component in his work. The ways that surface structure and image depth influence each other is shown in Wolfgang Tillmans’ large-format works whose original material is analogue photocopies (ongoing since 2006). Here he also references his earlier works from the end of the 1980s that started by experimenting with an old Canon photocopier. The uncontrolled contrasts and pigment particles in the images from these old machines are clear only after drastic enlargement (framed ca. 260 x 180 cm). The resulting effects are distanced but also concrete – created through not only the materiality of the printing process but also the play and variation of scale. With the analogue photocopy – probably the most ephemeral form of image (re)production – a system of values for images is brought into a critical light.
Table works ("truth study center")
In 2005, at his major supporter Maureen Paley
's gallery, Tillmans showed his large-scale display-case installation Truth Study Center. Going even further than in his wall-installations, Tillmans’ table works combine a diverse array of image formats and content. His own photographs are presented and arranged under glass next to extracts from books, newspapers, magazines, postcards, packaging and other found materials. The collage-like arrangements of the table displays produce an open-ness and potentiality in terms of aesthetics and content while asking the critical question about the interpretive possibilities of the visible in a global information-society. With that, claims of absolute (in particular religious) truth are caricatured as if Tillmans would like to put them to a kind of test (“truth study center”). The works draw attention to the exercise of power behind the ideologies of Islamic fundamentalism, Catholicism, and capitalism.
Videos
In 2002, Tillmans filmed a video clip for the pop band Pet Shop Boys
’ single "Home & Dry", composed almost entirely of shots documenting the mice living in the London Underground system. The film Kopierer (2010) depicts an open color laser copy machine, the CLC 1100, in the act of copying documents over a period of ten minutes.
Music and art collaboration
In 2011, Tillmans collaborated with The Opiates by offering a range of photographic images to accompany their CD "Hollywood under the knife" and an EP of remixes.
. In this small gallery located in the same building as his London studio he has developed a program of exhibitions with political art from other artists who he believes have not been given the proper attention they deserve, specifically in London. Previous exhibitions include Isa Genzken
, Jenny Holzer
, the films of Len Lye
and the photographs from the Center for Land Use Interpretation
.
. In 2009 he was awarded the Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie (The Culture Prize of the German Society for Photography).
(1995), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
in Madrid (1998), Museum Ludwig
in Cologne (2001), Castello di Rivoli in Italy (2002), Palais de Tokyo
in Paris (2002), and the Hamburger Bahnhof
in Berlin (2008). Tate Britain
’s extensive mid-career retrospective of Tillmans’ work, shown in 2003, was the first time the museum had devoted an exhibition to the work of a single photographer.
In 2006, MoMA PS1 presented Tillmans' first exhibition for an American museum. That same year, the Hammer Museum
in Los Angeles mounted Tillman's first major retrospective in the US, which travelled to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
, Washington D.C.
The Stedelijk Museum
, Amsterdam, entrusted Tillmans with the role of a guest curator in 2008, inviting him to present a personal choice of works by Isa Genzken
, Roberto Matta
, and Ellsworth Kelly
from the museum's collection. In the summer of 2010, he had a solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery
in London. In 2005 and in 2009, he was included in the Venice Biennale
.
Wolfgang Tillmans’s works are represented internationally in the collections of private collectors and public museums. He is represented by Maureen Paley
in London, Galerie Chantal Crousel in Paris, Juana de Aizpuru in Madrid, Daniel Buchholz in Berlin (since 1993), and Andrea Rosen
in New York (since 1994).
Kunsthalle Zurich (exh. cat.)
Portikus, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (exh. cat.)
1997
I Didn’t Inhale, Chisenhale Gallery, London
2001
Isa Genzken, Wolfgang Tillmans, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany (exh. cat.)
View from Above/Aufsicht, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany; Castello di Rivoli—Museo d’Arte
Contemporanea, Rivoli, Italy; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Louisiana Museum for moderne
2002
Vue d’en Haut, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (exh. cat.)
2003
Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands
if one thing matters, everything matters, Tate Britain, London (exh. cat.)
View From Above, Louisiana Museum for moderne kunst, Humlebœk, Denmark (exh. cat.)
2004
Museum for Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
2006
Freedom From The Known, PS1, New York (exh. cat.)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, (2007) (exh. cat.)
Pinakothek der Moderne (permanent collection), Munich
2007
Beugung, Kunstverein Munich, Munich
2008
Lighter, Hamburger Bahnhof Museum fur Gegenwart, Berlin (exh. cat.)
Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
2010
Serpentine Gallery, London (exh. cat.)
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
. In 2009, he was awarded the Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie (The Culture Prize of the German Society for Photography).
Life
Wolfgang Tillmans was born on August 16, 1968 in Remscheid. It was during his childhood that he first discovered his interest in photography when he began collecting photographs and magazine clippings. During his first visit to England as an exchange student in 1983, he discovered the British youth-culture and the local fashion and music magazines of the time. From 1987 through 1990, he lived in Hamburg where he also had his first solo exhibitions at Café Gnosa, Front and Frarik-Foto-Forum. From 1990 through 1992, he studied at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design in southern England. After his studies he moved to London and then to New York in 1994 for a year, where he met the German painter Jochen Klein. After moving back to England, Tillmans lived with Klein until he died of AIDS-related complications in 1997.Since 1995, Wolfgang Tillmans has lived and worked in London. During the summer of 1998, Tillmans participated in a month-long residency at the last active Shaker community
Shakers
The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, known as the Shakers, is a religious sect originally thought to be a development of the Religious Society of Friends...
in the world, in Sabbathday Lake, Maine. Since 2007, he has divided his time between Berlin and London. Following a guest professorship at the Hochschule für bildende Kunst in Hamburg from 1998 to 1999 and his Honorary Fellowship at the Arts University College at Bournemouth in 2001, Tillmans has been a professor for Interdisciplinary Art at the Städelschule
Städelschule
Städelschule, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, is a contemporary fine arts academy in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.- History :The Städelschule was established by a foundation set up by the Frankfurt merchant Johann Friedrich Städel in 1817...
in Frankfurt am Main since 2003. In 2001, Tillmans was awarded first prize in the competition for the design of the AIDS-Memorial for the City of Munich, whereupon the memorial was erected after his designs at the Sendlinger Tor
Sendlinger Tor
Sendlinger Tor is an U-Bahn station in the city center of Munich at a junction of the lines U1/2 and U3/6 line of the Munich U-Bahn system. It was opened on 19 October 1971 and 18 October 1980 ....
.
In 2011, Tillmans travelled to Haiti with the charity Christian Aid
Christian Aid
Christian Aid is the official relief and development agency of 40 British and Irish churches and works to support sustainable development, alleviate poverty, support civil society and provide disaster relief in South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa and Asia...
to document reconstruction work after the country's devastating earthquake one year before.
Beginnings
Wolfgang Tillmans was initially known for his seemingly casual, sometimes snapshotlike portraits of friends and other youth in his immediate surroundings and scene. His photos – from the European Gay Pride in London (1992) or the Love Parade in Berlin (1992) for example – appeared in magazines such as i-DI-D
i-D is a British magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art and youth culture. i-D was founded by designer and former Vogue art director Terry Jones in 1980. The first issue was published in the form of a hand-stapled fanzine with text produced on a typewriter...
, Spex
Spex (magazine)
Spex is a prominent German rock and pop culture magazine located in Berlin, Germany. Besides music news, Spex also covers literature, cinema, fashion and contemporary social trends...
, Interview, SZ-Magazin
Süddeutsche Zeitung
The Süddeutsche Zeitung , published in Munich, is the largest German national subscription daily newspaper.-Profile:The title literally translates as "South German Newspaper". It is read throughout Germany by 1.1 million readers daily and boasts a relatively high circulation abroad...
and Butt-Magazine, and have established his reputation as a prominent witness of a contemporary social movement. He was made co-editor of Spex in 1997. For the Index Magazine, he shot covers and assignments, including images of John Waters
John Waters
-Entertainment:*John Waters , American film director, active 1926–29 and 1947*John Waters , American film director, writer, visual artist, actor and cult figure...
, Gilbert & George, and Udo Kier
Udo Kier
Udo Kier is a German actor, known primarily for his work in horror and exploitation movies.-Early life:...
.
Tillmans was considered the “documentarian of his generation, especially that of the London club- and gay-scenes.” The series of his friends Lutz and Alex, also published in i-D in 1992, are considered important photographic documents of the 1990s. From 1992 to 1994 Tillmans lived and worked in London, moving to New York in 1994. During this time, he began to show more frequently, developing an exhibition style that consisted of nonhierarchical arrangements of unframed photographs pinned or taped onto the gallery’s walls. Color photographs are placed next to inkjet prints and next to postcards and magazine clippings of his own images, reaching almost to the ceiling and the floor. He views each exhibition as a site-specific installation, often addressing the exhibition space as a larger composition.
"Pictures, in order to see the world”
Wolfgang Tillmans’ photographic practice has since developed to encompass a wide array of genres. His portraits, still lifes, sky photographs (i.e. the Concorde series), astrophotography, aerial shots and landscapes were all motivated equally by aesthetic and political interests and in formulations of reality and truth claims – particularly in relation to homosexuality and gender identity. 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 (particularly in the installation known as “Soldiers – The Nineties”). The photographs are sometimes taped directly onto the wall, presented in vitrines, or arranged on extensive table-installations (“truth study center”). Operating on the basis of the fundamental equality of all motifs and supports, through this continual re-arranging, repositioning, questioning and reinforcement, Tillmans avoids ascribing any ‘conclusions’ to his work and thus repeatedly subjects his own photographic vision to a perpetual re-contextualization.Concorde Grid
The 56 photographs of equal dimensions that make up the Concorde Grid were taken in and around London as part of a commission for Tillmans’ exhibition at Chisenhale Gallery in 1997. They were shot from a wide range of places including private gardens, parks, railway tracks and the perimeter fence around Heathrow airport, recording the daily passing of the airplane.
Abstractions
Tillmans exhibited his first abstract and damaged pictures as a Parkett
Parkett
-Publication:Published three times per year in English and German by its publishing house in Zurich, Switzerland, with an additional editorial office in New York, Parkett has a circulation of 12,000 and is read by some 30,000 readers in 40 countries, one third of them in North...
edition in 1998. Since 2000, Tillmans has become increasingly interested in the chemical foundations of photographic material as well as its haptic and spatial possibilities. These 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. Tillmans further explores the bounds of photography as a medium in his “paper drop” series (2001–8). Here, 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), 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.
Photocopies
Tillman's first exhibition in 1988 was composed exclusively of images that were created with the latest kind of monochrome laser copier. He himself regards these so-called Approach pictures (1987-1988) as "first work before I even owned a camera". Over the years, Tillmans has often returned to this medium, which has remained a fixed component in his work. The ways that surface structure and image depth influence each other is shown in Wolfgang Tillmans’ large-format works whose original material is analogue photocopies (ongoing since 2006). Here he also references his earlier works from the end of the 1980s that started by experimenting with an old Canon photocopier. The uncontrolled contrasts and pigment particles in the images from these old machines are clear only after drastic enlargement (framed ca. 260 x 180 cm). The resulting effects are distanced but also concrete – created through not only the materiality of the printing process but also the play and variation of scale. With the analogue photocopy – probably the most ephemeral form of image (re)production – a system of values for images is brought into a critical light.
Table works ("truth study center")
In 2005, at his major supporter Maureen Paley
Maureen Paley
Maureen Paley is the American owner of a contemporary art gallery in Bethnal Green, London, where she lives. It was founded in 1984, called Interim Art during the 1990s, and renamed Maureen Paley in 2004. She exhibited Young British Artists at an early stage...
's gallery, Tillmans showed his large-scale display-case installation Truth Study Center. Going even further than in his wall-installations, Tillmans’ table works combine a diverse array of image formats and content. His own photographs are presented and arranged under glass next to extracts from books, newspapers, magazines, postcards, packaging and other found materials. The collage-like arrangements of the table displays produce an open-ness and potentiality in terms of aesthetics and content while asking the critical question about the interpretive possibilities of the visible in a global information-society. With that, claims of absolute (in particular religious) truth are caricatured as if Tillmans would like to put them to a kind of test (“truth study center”). The works draw attention to the exercise of power behind the ideologies of Islamic fundamentalism, Catholicism, and capitalism.
Videos
In 2002, Tillmans filmed a video clip for the pop band Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
’ single "Home & Dry", composed almost entirely of shots documenting the mice living in the London Underground system. The film Kopierer (2010) depicts an open color laser copy machine, the CLC 1100, in the act of copying documents over a period of ten minutes.
Music and art collaboration
In 2011, Tillmans collaborated with The Opiates by offering a range of photographic images to accompany their CD "Hollywood under the knife" and an EP of remixes.
Between Bridges
In April 2006, Tillmans opened the non-profit exhibition space Between Bridges in the ground floor of his London studio with works from the New York artist and activist David WojnarowiczDavid Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was a painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, and activist who was prominent in the New York City art world of the 1980s.-Biography:...
. In this small gallery located in the same building as his London studio he has developed a program of exhibitions with political art from other artists who he believes have not been given the proper attention they deserve, specifically in London. Previous exhibitions include Isa Genzken
Isa Genzken
Isa Genzken is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Berlin.-Education:Genzken studied fine arts and art history at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts from 1969–1971, the Berlin University of the Arts from 1971–1973, and Arts Academy Düsseldorf from 1973-1977. Genzken married German visual...
, Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer is an American conceptual artist. Holzer lives and works in Hoosick Falls, New York.-Education:...
, the films of Len Lye
Len Lye
Len Lye, born Leonard Charles Huia Lye , was a Christchurch, New Zealand-born artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture. His films are held in archives such as the New Zealand Film Archive, British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Pacific...
and the photographs from the Center for Land Use Interpretation
Center for Land Use Interpretation
The Center for Land Use Interpretation is a non-profit "research organization involved in exploring, examining, and understanding land and landscape issues...
.
Recognition
In 2000, Tillmans was the first photographer and also the first non-English artist to be awarded the Turner PrizeTurner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
. In 2009 he was awarded the Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie (The Culture Prize of the German Society for Photography).
Exhibitions
Despite having already exhibited in Hamburg, in 1993 Tillmans held his first exhibition at the Daniel Buchholz Gallery in Cologne. His work has since been shown in large solo exhibitions at renowned European museums, for example the Kunsthalle ZürichKunsthalle Zürich
The Kunsthalle Zürich is a contemporary art exhibition centre in Zurich, Switzerland. It is located on Limmatstrasse, near the city centre. The current director is Beatrix Ruf.A number of temporary exhibitions are organized each year...
(1995), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is the official name of Spain's national museum of 20th century art . The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992 and is named for Queen Sofia of Spain...
in Madrid (1998), Museum Ludwig
Museum Ludwig
Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from PopArt, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It also features many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein....
in Cologne (2001), Castello di Rivoli in Italy (2002), Palais de Tokyo
Palais de Tokyo
The Palais de Tokyo is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, near the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs the City of Paris and hosts the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris...
in Paris (2002), and the Hamburger Bahnhof
Hamburger Bahnhof
Hamburger Bahnhof is a former railway station in Berlin, Germany, on Invalidenstraße in the Moabit district opposite the Charité hospital. Today it serves as the Museum für Gegenwart , a contemporary art museum....
in Berlin (2008). Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
’s extensive mid-career retrospective of Tillmans’ work, shown in 2003, was the first time the museum had devoted an exhibition to the work of a single photographer.
In 2006, MoMA PS1 presented Tillmans' first exhibition for an American museum. That same year, the Hammer Museum
Hammer Museum
The Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Culture Center, or the Hammer Museum as it is more commonly known, is an art museum in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California...
in Los Angeles mounted Tillman's first major retrospective in the US, which travelled to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the...
, Washington D.C.
The Stedelijk Museum
Stedelijk Museum
Founded in 1874, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam is a museum for classic modern and contemporary art in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It has been housed on the Paulus Potterstraat, next to Museum Square Museumplein and to the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and the Concertgebouw, in Amsterdam Zuid...
, Amsterdam, entrusted Tillmans with the role of a guest curator in 2008, inviting him to present a personal choice of works by Isa Genzken
Isa Genzken
Isa Genzken is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Berlin.-Education:Genzken studied fine arts and art history at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts from 1969–1971, the Berlin University of the Arts from 1971–1973, and Arts Academy Düsseldorf from 1973-1977. Genzken married German visual...
, Roberto Matta
Roberto Matta
Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren , better known as Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art....
, and Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly is an American painter and sculptor associated with Hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and the Minimalist school. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing the simplicity of form found similar to the work of John McLaughlin. Kelly often employs bright colors to...
from the museum's collection. In the summer of 2010, he had a solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery
Serpentine Gallery
The Serpentine Gallery is an art gallery in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, central London. It focuses on modern and contemporary art. The exhibitions, architecture, education and public programmes attract approximately 750,000 visitors a year...
in London. In 2005 and in 2009, he was included in the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
.
Wolfgang Tillmans’s works are represented internationally in the collections of private collectors and public museums. He is represented by Maureen Paley
Maureen Paley
Maureen Paley is the American owner of a contemporary art gallery in Bethnal Green, London, where she lives. It was founded in 1984, called Interim Art during the 1990s, and renamed Maureen Paley in 2004. She exhibited Young British Artists at an early stage...
in London, Galerie Chantal Crousel in Paris, Juana de Aizpuru in Madrid, Daniel Buchholz in Berlin (since 1993), and Andrea Rosen
Andrea Rosen
Andrea Rosen is an American comedian and actress most notable for her work with comedy troupes Stella and , and for her appearances in numerous television commercials.-Biography:...
in New York (since 1994).
Selected solo exhibitions
1995Kunsthalle Zurich (exh. cat.)
Portikus, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (exh. cat.)
1997
I Didn’t Inhale, Chisenhale Gallery, London
2001
Isa Genzken, Wolfgang Tillmans, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany (exh. cat.)
View from Above/Aufsicht, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany; Castello di Rivoli—Museo d’Arte
Contemporanea, Rivoli, Italy; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Louisiana Museum for moderne
2002
Vue d’en Haut, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (exh. cat.)
2003
Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands
if one thing matters, everything matters, Tate Britain, London (exh. cat.)
View From Above, Louisiana Museum for moderne kunst, Humlebœk, Denmark (exh. cat.)
2004
Museum for Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
2006
Freedom From The Known, PS1, New York (exh. cat.)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, (2007) (exh. cat.)
Pinakothek der Moderne (permanent collection), Munich
2007
Beugung, Kunstverein Munich, Munich
2008
Lighter, Hamburger Bahnhof Museum fur Gegenwart, Berlin (exh. cat.)
Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
2010
Serpentine Gallery, London (exh. cat.)