Freedom From The Known

Freedom from the Known
MoMA / PS1, New York & Steidl Verlag, 2006
Publisher Steidl
Published 2006

Hardcover (pale blue cloth boards, no dust jacket as issued)
80 pages
8 duotone plates
18 colour plates

Wolfgang Tillmans’ first major solo exhibition at an American museum focuses on his purely abstract photographs.

Freedom From The Known brings together works by one of today’s leading photographers. While fashion photography dominated the 1980s with its emphasis on styling and pose, the 1990s saw a shift toward more casual, everyday imagery. Artists like Juergen Teller and models such as Kate Moss rose to prominence in this context. Tillmans was part of this shift, yet even then he developed a distinctive visual language that incorporated elements of contemporary art, sequencing and installation.

This publication centres on Tillmans’ abstract work, marking his move from figurative photography toward images that resemble abstract painting. Many of the works were created without a camera and produced specifically for the exhibition, appearing here for the first time.