Thomas Demand

The German artist Thomas Demand occupies a singular position in the world of photography. Initially a sculptor, he took up photography to record the ephemeral constructions he made out of paper. In 1993, he turned the tables, henceforth making constructions only in order to photograph them. Demand begins by translating a preexisting image, usually culled from the media, into a life-size model he makes out of colored paper and cardboard. He re-creates a room, a parking lot, a staircase, or, a fluorescent light fixture; then he photographs the model and destroys it. Demand's photographs look at once compellingly real and strangely artificial. Since their subjects -- handcrafted facsimiles of both architectural spaces and natural environments--are themselves built in the image of other images, the photographs are three times removed from the scenes they seem to depict. Combining craftsmanship and conceptualism in equal parts, Demand pushes the medium of photography toward uncharted frontiers. Given the cinematic quality of many of his photographs, it is not surprising that he has set some of them in motion, producing five 35mm films. This comprehensive publication presents all of Demand's major works from 1993 to the present. It includes previously unpublished archival documentation, offering unprecedented insight into his working process and the stories behind his pictures.