Monday 20 February 2017

Wolfgang Tillmans at the Tate

If you only know Tillmans as the guy who made those eye-catching anti-Brexit posters last year, then this newly opened show till be a revelation of beautiful work.

He is a art photographer of some renown and his panoramic print have a lot in common with massive old master canvases. The African market scene is totally stunning. I was especially impressed by the abstracts made without the use of a camera.

The arrangement of the show is interesting, taking the eye up down and around the walls, but also annoying, as there are several places where small prints in the corner of rooms are practically unviewable due to the numbers of people in attendance, at least when we went, and similarly one huge abstract is hung in a corridor.

I can live without the sound piece and the rather unexciting film, but the reportage arrangements of printed material, his politics, and books are well worth your time. There is a lot to read. Patience rewarded.