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Nothing can be fully appreciated without understanding its opposite. “I see my practice as picturemaking. Whatever is available, I use.” This quote from Tillmans could not be closer to the way I feel about making artwork. After each extended studio time making use of almost everything to hand. Breaking rules and following my ‘what if’ mantra usually leads me to a new way of working.

Tillmans makes use of abstract techniques for Lighters, camera less photography is his staring point for this series. Exposing photosensitive paper to light and fixing them with chemicals. He folds the image during the process a sculptural gesture that gives the viewer a 3D object. The photograph becomes an object.

The Lighters series have been decribed by Tillmans himself as metaphysical. By exploring and using different methods, materials and processes Tillmans hopes to assist the viewer towards their own transcendental experience. I enjoy that he works without a predetermined outcome, this organic way of working has the potential to bring a more diverse series.

As Tillmans puts it, “I want the pictures to be working in both directions. I accept that they speak about me, and yet at the same time, I want and expect them to function in terms of the viewer and their experience.”

‘How Wolfgang Tillmans Used Technique to Reach Abstraction | Ideelart’. 2021. IdeelArt.com [online]. Available at: https://www.ideelart.com/magazine/wolfgang-tillmans [accessed 21 Apr 2021].

‘Lighters Wolfgang Tillmans 56 – Google Search’. 2021. [online]. Available at: https://www.google.com/search?q=lighters+wolfgang+tillmans+56&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwig-7zLupzwAhXIdqwKHRreBZQQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=lighters+wolfgang+tillmans+56&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQA1CX6ghY1u4IYIX3CGgAcAB4AIABdYgBtgKSAQMxLjKYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ8ABAQ&sclient=img&ei=ZPuGYKC5EsjtsQWavJegCQ&bih=822&biw=1488&client=safari#imgrc=vDYROQ_EmTg68M [accessed 26 Apr 2021].