Wolfgang Tillmans - Tate Modern

'If one thing matters, everything matters'. This title of an earlier Tillman's project helped to unlock his photography for me. His work encompasses a vast array of bewildering imagery from car headlamps to plant pots on windowsills, Concorde, the moon, Gay clubs in Berlin, a t-shirt hanging on a peg, a skinhead pissing on a chair; if one thing matters, everything matters. This quote has been a mantra of previous artists, like Robert Rauschenberg, in an attempt to break the art establishment grip on what is perceived to be the correct way to approach making art - breaking down hierarchies of subject, object, medium and materials.

In a 2003 Guardian interview Tillmans states:

'I'm driven by an insatiable interest in the manifold shapes of human activities, in the surface of life, and as long as I enjoy how things are pointless and hugely important at the same time, then I'm not afraid'.

The article's author goes on to say that:

'It is a truism that the camera can only reveal surfaces, light and its absence. But there are other things in the photograph, too: subject, composition, order, viewpoint, proximity, scale, size, print quality and so on, not to speak of time, human emotional affinities, and whatever it is we might want, knowingly or not, when we come to look. All these entangled elements inform the way we read both singular images and entire bodies of work. There is always a lot of context, and there is more recontextualising going on all the time. The culture of the photograph matters.'

So it seems that what the photographer makes of his work and what the viewer finds in it are not always connected. 'The death of the author' and all that... I find this to be true. In Tillman's work I can connect to some elements of Gay experience and not others. No doubt some may find the image that Tillman's made as an airline passenger of a food tray, complete with his friend's pink cock slapped on top, to be wilfully shocking - others see it as just part of the fun of everyday life. As a photographer Tillman's captures the mundane in a special way, often using light to make something deeper of the image; making abstract interplays of light and form and colour, or as a comment on our contemporary culture - take your pick...

As a photographer myself I connect with the language of visual culture that permeates Tillman's work; although primarily a street photographer I see elements of Gary Winogrand's ethos of photographing the world to see what it looks like. Tillman's goes even further, experimenting with process, making abstracts from film chemicals and rolls of paper.

Tillmans hangs his exhibitions using small bulldog clips, or taped directly to the walls; he uses plain white frames too, that give an element of consistency to the look of the exhibition. Prints are placed large and small together and appear at varying heights and groupings. There is a visual connection to each grouping that helps to tie the whole look together.

Whether at the current exhibition at Tate Modern, or previous projects, or from his books I always look at Tillman's work and think about the people, places, things in Western society; connecting stuff that we manufacture, purchase, surround ourselves with; the art we make; the people we know and love and interact with in our daily lives. I look at his work and think about the vast contemporary culture we are all part of and wonder what is it all for and what does any of it mean?

Primo Levi - If This Is A Man

For my research I've just finished the famous autobiography of Primo Levi, an Italian Jew, who wrote eloquently about his experiences in the Concentration Camps during the Nazi era of WWII. The book is useful for an overview of how the camps were organised and run. The capacity of human nature to endure in such conditions and the internal stresses and squabbles that break out among the camp's inmates are enlightening. I found Levi's description of the 'drowned' and the 'saved' poignant; how new incomers could swiftly be assessed by the long timers; between those who could adapt quickly using all possible resources to survive, and those marked for almost immediate mental collapse - leading to death within days... weeks...

I did mention the point at a recent Thames Valley Group meeting that Levi describes three categories of triangle prisoners - green for criminals, red for political, and the yellow star for Jewish inmates. He completely ignores the pink triangle prisoners... Though there are fleeting references in the book to homosexuals in the camp. Levi's writing implies that there are no other categories. Whether this is intentional or an oversight I do not know.

Just for clarity here are all the categories of prisoner including the ones that Levi omitted:

Nazi concentration camp badge system.


I've come back to edit this post with some further thoughts I had overnight...

If we are going to categorise people by their sexuality (as the Nazi regime did by strengthening laws against homosexuality) then it is worth analysing the situation in the camps to this effect. In the book The Men With The Pink Triangle by Heinz Heger, the pink triangle prisoner Josef Kohout described his time during incarceration. The prisoners convicted of homosexuality were strictly watched at all times and Josef recounts how at night they all had to sleep with their arms placed above the bedclothes. The lights were left on all night (unlike all the other huts) and frequent checks were made to ensure prisoners were not 'touching themselves' or each other...

Josef recounts the ridiculousness of this obsession that heterosexuals have with homosexuals having sex; because as he states in the book, and this is in fact baked up by Primo Levi too, that homosexual acts were taking place in the camp by the non-pink triangle prisoners. Guards were having sex with prisoners; prisoners with each other, and some of the civilians they came into contact with too. This is for various reasons; leaving aside the convicted pink triangle prisoners it is obvious that there would have been homosexuals in all the other groups too. They would have been convicted not for so called 'pink triangle crimes' but because of their political views, been professional and petty villains or of Jewish origin. As well as the homosexuals in these other groups there would have been bisexuals who would have been having sex with other men. Then there are the group of men who did not consider themselves homosexual (nowadays called 'men who have sex with men') but will resort to homosexual sex when there are no available women (it is important to note this category is not the same as bisexual men). Another category would be men seeking to gain an advantage of some kind (despite their heterosexuality) and be prepared to have sex with other prisoners, guards, and civilians. This would be to obtain better food rations, clothing, easier jobs, and ultimately to attain a goal of survival under the harshest conditions imaginable.

So, as Josef rightly points out, to put a searchlight on the pink triangle prisoners was absurd and a waste of time considering the behaviour of many prisoners not convicted of homosexuality. As in society then, and to a certain extent even today, there is a hypocrisy at work in the prevailing culture that allows for homosexuality to be tolerated as long as it is not spoken about and discreet, the beliefs of the heteronormative culture are upheld in public  - and you don't get caught...

This hypocrisy is also doubly cruel when you consider the beatings meted out to the pink triangle prisoners (who generally weren't having sex in the camps anyway) such as assignment of futile jobs like wheelbarrowing snow or rocks from one side of the camp to the other for the purposes of breaking their spirit and early death.

Physical Learning Log Scan

Robert Rauschenberg - Tate Moden

I really enjoyed my visit to this exhibition and found the work inspiring. Rauschenberg, who used all manner of materials to make his art, was considered quite controversial in his day. As part of the burgeoning Pop Art movement he rejected Abstract Expressionism as an art movement that could uncover the internal psyche of the artist. Pop Art is the beginning of a move from the all encompassing meta-narrative and the artist as 'genius', to the Postmodern concept of the artist as being part of the world, influenced by and soaking up a culture that is all around us.

Rauschenberg liked to mix up his art with found items from skips and put them to new artistic uses. He would go on walks through the streets of New York seeking out abandoned items to incorporate into his 2D and 3D pieces. A particular example of this is Rauschenberg's 'Bed', 1955. This work is part of his 'combines' series, taking items found in the everyday world and applying paint and other traditional artists materials to make a new piece of work; one that speaks of the combination of art and life and not the self reflective formality of Modernism.

I found his use of varied materials refreshing. Why should paint and paper and pencils and photo paper be considered art materials and other items as unsuitable? Surely they are all just materials! All of it is suitable for making art. To think otherwise is too formal an approach and stifling to creativity and ideas.

'Bed', 1955. Robert Rauschenberg.

'Monogram', 1959. Robert Rauschenberg.

From my own artistic perspective I was particularly drawn to his 'Scatole Personali' (Personal Boxes). These little wooden boxes containing small reliquary-like pieces are quite sculptural and, for me, exuded an intriguing narrative that held my attention. They looked like small worlds, having an almost dioramic quality to them. I am currently thinking ahead to a particular assignment for my Body of Work and how to visualise a particular event from the 'Men With the Pink Triangle Book'. This small box format has very distinct creative possibilities for me. I'm looking forward to moving through the remaining exercises and assignments on Body of Work to completion.

A collection of 'Scatole Personali', 1952-1953. Robert Rauschenberg.