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Lot Essay
Presenting a sweeping monochrome of gradiated colour, Andreas Gursky’s Untitled I 1993 captures the gallery floor of the Kunsthalle in Dusseldorf. Turning his photographic lens uncharacteristically towards the floor, he created a radically empty picture that seemingly describes nothing more than a grey carpet. In its focus on grey tonality and surface texture, recalls the long series of monochrome grey paintings that Gerhard Richter began in the 1960s. However, it is unarguably photographic, exploiting the medium to explore and reproduce intricate textures, with a subtle tonal gradation from the bottom to the top of the image that mimics photographic printing. Conceptually, this photograph is to be seen along with Frankfurt – another work by Gursky in which he photographed a panorama of the check-in area at Frankfurt airport, which almost seems to stretch into infinity. A serene darkness pervades the seemingly infinite scene, creating a surreal atmosphere that is common to both of these works. Previous editions of this piece were exhibited at major retrospectives of the artist's work, including those at Tate Liverpool, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
In the present work, the flat surface is delicately broken by the texture of the carpet, and furthermore, the lighting effects: the shadow in the lower half of the composition works in opposition to the light that bounces off the carpet in the upper part, creating a sense of dynamism and inviting close engagement from the viewer. In other pieces, Gursky titles his photographs according to their location, but here he has chosen not to do so, leaving it nameless. In this way, the artist further provokes the viewer to question what they are looking at, intentionally making it difficult for them to find their bearings. Throughout his oeuvre, Gursky has explored the work of many of his art-historical forefathers - from the broad landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich to the more recent geometric and intellectual rigours of Minimalism and conceptual art. Engaging with these precedents to enrich and extend the modern practice of photographic description, the present work is an example of Gursky's intellectually expansive and visually exploratory work.
In the present work, the flat surface is delicately broken by the texture of the carpet, and furthermore, the lighting effects: the shadow in the lower half of the composition works in opposition to the light that bounces off the carpet in the upper part, creating a sense of dynamism and inviting close engagement from the viewer. In other pieces, Gursky titles his photographs according to their location, but here he has chosen not to do so, leaving it nameless. In this way, the artist further provokes the viewer to question what they are looking at, intentionally making it difficult for them to find their bearings. Throughout his oeuvre, Gursky has explored the work of many of his art-historical forefathers - from the broad landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich to the more recent geometric and intellectual rigours of Minimalism and conceptual art. Engaging with these precedents to enrich and extend the modern practice of photographic description, the present work is an example of Gursky's intellectually expansive and visually exploratory work.