Wolfgang Tillmans essays

Wolfgang Tillmans essays Wolfgang Tillmans was once quoted to say that with his work he was challenging the institutionalization of the image within both the gallery and the magazine. The photographs that he takes are of everyday things, such as a woman picking vegetables in a grocery store, gallons of juice sitting on a shelf, or even a mans shoe. There are many pictures found in magazines that consist of the same type of subjects. But look closely, and you will see that their views on these subjects are completely different. The way in which Wolfgang Tillmans portrays everyday life through his work shares both similarities and differences with the way in which the mainstream magazines decide to portray it. Tillmans photographs share a few similarities with some of the pictures that are used in common magazines, whether they are advertisements or a photo accompanying an article. Using Tillmans photograph of the city and comparing it to others found in magazines, it is easy to see the similarities between them. In Tillmans work, the city is presented as dark and dismal. You obtain this feeling when you look at the gray sky that casts a heavy shadow on the city below it. It is as if the city is being engulfed in darkness. It is the same scene in the magazine pictures. Many of the pictures of cities in the magazines had the same effect. The sky is dark, and it casts deep shadows onto the ground below. The buildings hardly contrast from one another in both Tillmans and the magazines photographs. The colors are the same on each building. It is as if they blend together, creating something dull and boring. Even the trees become dark and mixed in with their surroundings. Everything seems to become one, leaving little contrast between foreground subjects. Tillmans photograph focuses on one main subject, which is the woman. There are no other people around her. She is alone in this city. The magazine pictures do the ...