Wolfgang Tillmans

As a young photographer, Wolfgang Tillmans (*1968, Remscheid, Germany) became known in the early 1990s for his portraits of friends and the underground milieu. The photographer, who lived in London from 1992 before settling in Berlin in 2011, has since developed an oeuvre that plays freely with formats, shooting and printing techniques as well as hanging formats, which he himself conceives. Tillmans deals with diverse subjects such as starry nights, maritime landscapes, still lifes, abstract structures and, of course, the portrait. “The gaze as such is a reflection on the world,” he says, all the while cultivating an “un-privileged” way of looking “that anybody can adopt.” For Tillmans, the portrait is a naturally delicate type of work that demands a special frame of mind, not only from the photographer, but also from the person photographed, as both are set on an equal footing. “It is only the mutual acceptance of their respective vulnerability and weakness that enables the making of a strong portrait.” 22 portraits comes from various projects completed between 2000 and 2018 and shows representatives from all kinds of cultural disciplines, from dance to architecture, but also people not known to the artist as well as collaborators and close friends.