Andreas Gursky

This splendid art book explores the work of German photographer Andreas Gursky (born 1955), whose large-scale photographs chronicle what Hayward Gallery director Rugoff accurately terms “epic subjects—vast architectural structures or teeming crowds of people or things.” In the introduction, Rugoff emphasizes Gursky’s ability to cultivate “complex levels of resonance within a single photograph,” as in Paris, Montparnasse (1993), a photograph of the city’s largest post-war housing block that captures both intense details and abstraction. Curator Sholis’s essay explores the relationship between whole and part in Gursky’s work, noting the way his images often blur the boundaries between representation and abstraction and between photography and cartography to reveal the complicated entanglements of space and society. For example, Untitled XIII (2002), a photograph of a garbage dump on the outskirts of Mexico City, depicts an endless sea of trash under a grey horizon. Upon closer examination tiny figures emerge, revealing a small commune of squatters. A rare and revelatory conversation between Gursky and artist Jeff Wall and a short personal account of Gursky by sculptor Fritsch round out the monograph. The photos are unfortunately limited by the size of the book, but the written contributions make up for that lack, giving a well-rounded overview of the ever-evolving work of a notable 20th-century photographer. 100 photos. (Apr.)