Wolfgang Tillmans (b. Remscheid, Germany, 1968) seeks to challenge the potentiality of making pictures. In a career spanning almost four decades, he has consistently redefined the medium of photography through a seamless integration of genres, subjects, techniques, and exhibition strategies. His inventive practice pairs intimacy and playfulness with a commitment to social awareness and a persistent questioning of existing values and hierarchies. Tillmans has rejected the prevailing conventions of photographic presentation, continuously developing connections between his pictures and the social space of the exhibition. In his installations, unframed prints are taped to the walls or clipped and hung from pins, and framed photographs appear alongside magazine pages. Constellations of images are grouped on walls and tabletops as photocopies, colour or black-and-white photographs, and video projections, exemplifying the artist’s idea of visual democracy in action. Guided by a profound sense of curiosity and care towards his subjects, Tillmans seeks to expand the poetic possibilities of the medium while addressing the fundamental question of what it means to create pictures in an increasingly image-saturated world. As the artist states, “The underpinning of my work has always been the use of my medium and everything it offers in order to make a new picture” – Tillmans, 2010.

Selected solo exhibitions include: Build From Here, Maureen Paley, London (2025); Rien ne nous y préparait – Tout nous y préparait / Nothing could have prepared us, Everything could have prepared us, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2025); Weltraum, Albertinum, Dresden (2025); Ausstellung in Remscheid, Haus Cleff, Remscheid (2025); To Look Without Fear, touring exhibition: Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2022-24); Moon in Earthlight, Maureen Paley: Morena di Luna, Hove (2021); Maureen Paley, London (2019); Tate Modern, London (2017); Maureen Paley, London (2016); and Turner Prize, Tate Britain, London (2000).

Wolfgang Tillmans’s first exhibition with Maureen Paley was held in 1993, and the artist has since had eleven exhibitions at the gallery. In 2000, Tillmans was the first photographer and first non-British artist to receive the Turner Prize, from Tate, London. He received the Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie and was selected to serve as an Artist Trustee on the Board of Tate in 2009. He has been a member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, since 2012 and was appointed a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 2013. In 2017, he joined the Board of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, where he has served as Chair since 2019.

He/Him

@wolfgang_tillmans

Photo by Olly Shinder