Wolfgang Tillmans, paper drop (green) (2019). Unframed inkjet print. 135 x 200 cm. © Wolfgang Tillmans. Courtesy Maureen Paley, London / Hove.
One of our highlights from Art021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair is this inkjet print from Wolfgang Tillmans’ celebrated ‘paper drop’ series, presented by Maureen Paley.
Tillmans makes abstract works that challenge pre-existing hierarchies around photography. He constructs cameraless photographic images via a process of exposing photosensitive paper to light sources.
In the case of his ‘paper drop’ series, Tillmans photographs curved sheets of photographic paper. In these works, the sheet of photographic paper becomes sculptural, transformed into a voluminous, almost liquid state.
Tillmans does not view his abstract work as separate from his figurative output, and their power lies in the startlingly personal sensation elicited from something so abstract.
Main image: Wolfgang Tillmans, paper drop (green) (2019). Unframed inkjet print. 135 x 200 cm. © Wolfgang Tillmans. Courtesy Maureen Paley, London / Hove.
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