.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
'Behind Gursky's taste for the imposing clarity of unbroken parallel forms spanning a slender rectangle lies a rich inheritance of reductive aesthetics, from Friedrich to Newman to Richter to Donald Judd' (P. Galassi, quoted in 'Gursky's World', in Andreas Gursky, ext. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001, p. 35).
Immaculately composed, the minimalist grandeur of Prada III is testimony to Andreas Gursky's artistic precision and cultural resonance. Created in 1998, Gursky's God-like perspective is focussed here within the sleek interior of the Prada store. Making use of the formal qualities of the polished architecture, Gursky constructs a perfectly crafted functionalist space, elongating the recessed shelves to create an expansive Minimalist panorama. Opening themselves to the viewer, the shelves reveal their high-end consumer goods: slim folds of black cashmere articulated in the subtle backlit glow. Other examples of Prada III from the edition are housed in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and Kunsthaus Bregenz.
Gursky's powerful, large scale photographs have an immediate and direct impact, prompting the viewer to call into to question 'the fetishism of our material world' (A. Gursky, quoted in Andreas Gursky: Photographs 1994-1998, exh. cat., The Dean Gallery, Edinburgh, 1999, p. 12). Fully aware of its social implications, the artist's choice to depict the Prada shop is deliberate. Prada's covetable luxury goods represent the apex of consumer fetishism. Prada III presents luxurious expanses of space; the architectural shelves offer impeccably ordered tokens of desire. The reverential lighting presents the luxury goods as immaculate icons within the high temple of consumerism. The ordered repetition of the methodically composed photograph induces an almost spiritual sense of calm and contemplation in those who stand before it. Suffused in a muted, meditative glow, it becomes almost a place of worship, the new cathedral of the secular elite.
The monumental scale of the work imbues the image with the physical power and impact of sculpture. Resembling the aesthetic purity of Donald Judd's Minimalist 'stacks', the elegance of Prada III pays homage to Minimalism in both Gursky's reductionist aesthetic and Prada's sleek branding. The strong horizontality of the composition is favoured by Gursky, recalling the essence of Donald Judd's Stacks in their use of rhythmic space; the restrained colour palette of Prada III emphasises the sense of progression of the stacked sweaters across the equally measured shelves. As Peter Galassi suggests, 'behind Gursky's taste for the imposing clarity of unbroken parallel forms spanning a slender rectangle lies a rich inheritance of reductive aesthetics, from Friedrich to Newman to Richter to Donald Judd' (P. Galassi, quoted in 'Gursky's World', in Andreas Gursky, ext. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001, p. 35). The profiles of the neatly stacked sweaters articulate the negative space surrounding them, synthesising the language of high modernist formalism with the documentary impulse of photography.
Extending from Bernd and Hilla Becher's standardised typologies, Gursky's compositions are a calculated modification of the photographic practice to best illustrate the contemporary world. Where the Becher's typologies were defined by their frontal vantage point and black and white documentary style, Gursky asserts a new position for the discipline. Through his masterful use of multiple negatives and digital technology, Gursky produces photographs that exceed reality in intensity, perspective and scope. In Prada III, the meticulous rendering of space through Gursky's calculated interplay of light, texture and shadow creates the idealised sanctuary for the consumer era.
Immaculately composed, the minimalist grandeur of Prada III is testimony to Andreas Gursky's artistic precision and cultural resonance. Created in 1998, Gursky's God-like perspective is focussed here within the sleek interior of the Prada store. Making use of the formal qualities of the polished architecture, Gursky constructs a perfectly crafted functionalist space, elongating the recessed shelves to create an expansive Minimalist panorama. Opening themselves to the viewer, the shelves reveal their high-end consumer goods: slim folds of black cashmere articulated in the subtle backlit glow. Other examples of Prada III from the edition are housed in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and Kunsthaus Bregenz.
Gursky's powerful, large scale photographs have an immediate and direct impact, prompting the viewer to call into to question 'the fetishism of our material world' (A. Gursky, quoted in Andreas Gursky: Photographs 1994-1998, exh. cat., The Dean Gallery, Edinburgh, 1999, p. 12). Fully aware of its social implications, the artist's choice to depict the Prada shop is deliberate. Prada's covetable luxury goods represent the apex of consumer fetishism. Prada III presents luxurious expanses of space; the architectural shelves offer impeccably ordered tokens of desire. The reverential lighting presents the luxury goods as immaculate icons within the high temple of consumerism. The ordered repetition of the methodically composed photograph induces an almost spiritual sense of calm and contemplation in those who stand before it. Suffused in a muted, meditative glow, it becomes almost a place of worship, the new cathedral of the secular elite.
The monumental scale of the work imbues the image with the physical power and impact of sculpture. Resembling the aesthetic purity of Donald Judd's Minimalist 'stacks', the elegance of Prada III pays homage to Minimalism in both Gursky's reductionist aesthetic and Prada's sleek branding. The strong horizontality of the composition is favoured by Gursky, recalling the essence of Donald Judd's Stacks in their use of rhythmic space; the restrained colour palette of Prada III emphasises the sense of progression of the stacked sweaters across the equally measured shelves. As Peter Galassi suggests, 'behind Gursky's taste for the imposing clarity of unbroken parallel forms spanning a slender rectangle lies a rich inheritance of reductive aesthetics, from Friedrich to Newman to Richter to Donald Judd' (P. Galassi, quoted in 'Gursky's World', in Andreas Gursky, ext. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001, p. 35). The profiles of the neatly stacked sweaters articulate the negative space surrounding them, synthesising the language of high modernist formalism with the documentary impulse of photography.
Extending from Bernd and Hilla Becher's standardised typologies, Gursky's compositions are a calculated modification of the photographic practice to best illustrate the contemporary world. Where the Becher's typologies were defined by their frontal vantage point and black and white documentary style, Gursky asserts a new position for the discipline. Through his masterful use of multiple negatives and digital technology, Gursky produces photographs that exceed reality in intensity, perspective and scope. In Prada III, the meticulous rendering of space through Gursky's calculated interplay of light, texture and shadow creates the idealised sanctuary for the consumer era.