Andreas GURKSY
German 1955–
Pyongyang I, 2007
C-Print
307.0 x 215.5 x 6.2 cm
© Andreas Gursky /VG Bild-Kunst. Licensed by VISCOPY, Australia
Courtesy: Monika Sprüth / Philomene Magers, Cologne Munich London

NGV Australia's first to show Andreas Gursky

The first Australian exhibition of the work of German photographer Andreas Gursky will open at the National Gallery of Victoria in November.

Andreas Gursky will present 21 major works for which the artist is internationally acclaimed. The photographs range from 1989 to 2007 and include seminal works such as Tokyo Stock Exchange and the diptych 99 cent store.

Andreas Gursky is recognised as one of the world's leading contemporary artists. Well known for his large-scale (up to five metres high) and extraordinarily detailed photographs of contemporary life, Gursky continues the lineage of ‘new objectivity’ in German photography which was brought to contemporary attention by Bernd and Hilla Becher.

Dr Isobel Crombie, Senior Curator of Photography, NGV, said: “Gursky takes the principles of objectivity and, through digital imaging and the scale and sophistication of his work, pushes photography to extreme lengths.

“In essence, his work is concerned with the modern experience of life in a globalised world.  Through a combination of enormous scale and precise pin-sharp detail, he represents the systems inherent in our complex, fast paced consumerist society,” said Dr Crombie.

In his work titled Pyongyang I, pictured here, Gursky visited the annual Arirang Festival, in Pyongyang, North Korea. The 2007 event was perfect for a photographer who has always been interested in the mass rather than the individual, and the eerily exact choreography seems a perfect corollary to the equally exacting nature of Gursky’s photographic style.

Dr Gerard Vaughan, Director, NGV said the Andreas Gursky exhibition represented a significant coup for Melbourne.

“This exhibition is being generously organised by the Haus der Kunst museum in Munich and the NGV is privileged to be the only Australian venue for this extraordinary show.  We are also fortunate to have had the works in this exhibition selected for us by Andreas Gursky himself.”

Andreas Gursky was born in 1955 and grew up in Düsseldorf, Germany. In the early 1980s, Gursky studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany’s State Art Academy. Whilst there he was heavily influenced by his teachers Bernd and Hilla Becher, who were well known for their methodical black and white photographs of industrial machinery.

In 1984 Gursky began to move away from the Becher style, choosing instead to work in colour. Since that time he has travelled internationally to cities such as Tokyo, Cairo, Hong Kong, Stockholm, Singapore and Los Angeles photographing factories, hotels and office buildings – places he considered to be symbols of contemporary culture. His ‘world-view’ photographs during this period are considered amongst the most original achievements in contemporary photography.

Gursky has been the subject of numerous international exhibitions including the Internationale Foto-Triennale in Esslingen in 1989 and 1995, the Venice Biennale in 1990, and the Biennale of Sydney in 1996 and 2000. In 2001, Gursky was the subject of an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Andreas Gursky will be on display at NGV International from 21 November 2008 to 22 February 2009. NGV International is open 10am–5pm daily, closed Tuesdays. Entry fee.

NOTE: Based on media release issued by NGV.