WOLFGANG TILLMANS | 'mental picture #65'

a unique object, chromogenic photogram, signed, titled, dated, and annotated 'unique' in pencil on the reverse, framed, a Regen Projects label on the reverse, 2001

Regen Projects, Los Angeles, circa 2001

Wolfgang Tillmans: If One Thing Matters, Everything Matters (London: Tate, 2003), p. 232 (this unique object)

This unique chromogenic photogram is in generally excellent condition. The electric coloration remains rich and saturated, with no apparent fading. The following is written in pencil on the reverse: '01-106-unique 12-01.' The following is written on the frame backboard: '01-107[sic]-unique.'
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Wolfgang Tillmans has continuously pushed the boundaries of what photography is and what it can be since the early 1980s.  His large body of work defies categorization, from snapshot-like photographs of the drug-soaked Hamburg club culture that first propelled his career; to images published in vanguard magazines such as i-D; to quiet still life made in his studio and home.  Although he affirms there are certain themes consistent throughout his work, the only distinctions Tillmans uses to describe his photographs are those made with a camera and those made without. In the earliest period of his career, Tillmans experimented with enlarging and distorting his own photographs with a photocopier, delighted by the possibilities and level of chance involved.  Subsequent cameraless works would be made by folding photographic paper in various ways (both before and after processing), running paper through a dirty processing machine, or applying chemicals to the paper.  In the series Mental Images, Tillmans created vibrant images by placing colored string lights on the light sensitive photographic paper; here, the twisted wire and vividly glowing bulbs are clearly visible in several areas.   

Tillmans’ experimentations with various combinations of chemicals, light, and objects to create images without a camera associate him with not only giants of 19^th and 20^th century photographic history such as Man Ray and László Moholy-Nagy but also fellow contemporary photographers such as Adam Fuss (see Lot 6) and Susan Derges (see Lot 7).  For Tillmans, the content of the image – the visual information – as well as the actual physical presence of the object itself are of equal importance.  In this sense, the expressions of light on paper (luminograms) or the silhouette of articles placed over paper (photograms) become not just photographs but sculptural objects as well.  

Although the human brain naturally struggles to find reason and narrative within an abstract image, Tillmans’ intention is simply that color and shape be used as a mode of expression, devoid of agenda.  In exhibition, Tillmans rejects hierarchy or attempts to rate one form or period of his works over the other.  In this sense, the title of his 2003 Tate Britain retrospective 'If One Thing Matters, Everything Matters' seems particularly apt.