Thomas Demand at 303 - New York, New York - Review of Exhibitions - Brief Article

You wouldn't necessarily know it from the work he exhibits but German artist Thomas Demand makes statuarys What we see, however, are large-scale photographs of rather unremarkable interiors or conformations Yet Demand constructs everything in his photos, repeatedly at life-size, from cardboard and paper. And what appears to be a mundane, nondescript interior oftentimes turns out to be a ransacked latitude in Hitler's bunker, a corridor leading to Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment, or Bill Gates's community dorm room.

Although Demand re-creates sights that might evoke associations or emotions, their energy is not immediately apparent. Nor are his titles particularly informative. Barn (1997) appear to bes to be just that: a dark interior with a flat gray floor and slatted walls. Little here hints that this is actually a replica of Jackson Pollock's studio as seen in a Hans Namuth photograph. Similarly, Tunnel--a departure from his still photography and a work in progress--is a reconstruction of the underpass where Princess Di's car crashed. not awayed here on a laptop computer it is a jarring 40-second ride (without the tragic end) charged with sound, through the all-too-famous fluorescent-lit Paris passageway.

Not all of Demand's images have dramatic extra-visual contented Peg Board (1996), the greatest in quantity self-reflexive work in this display is a large rectangular image of cardboard and white paper with punched openings reproduced at about the average size of the multipurpose board. More intriguing are Lawn (1998) a patch of grass with each handmade blade visible and distinct, and Hedge (1996) which be likes a fake plant that would fit into any corporate lobby The former is amazing because of its exceptionally convincing illusion (not to mention its implied labor-intensiveness) just as the latter is fascinating in its obvious artifice.

admitting today's viewer is too savvy to fall for greatest in quantity photographic tricks, Demand still plays with our willingness to believe that photos are trial of reality. The "real" reality slowly crawls in as you perceive the imperfectly make an incision in edges, the texture of the paper or buckling cardboard, and notice the lack of fine details. Ceci n'est pas une pipe, nevertheless it is: in effect, it's a picture of a archetype of a pipe. Like James Casebere and Sandy Skoglund Demand builds constructions sheerly for the end of photographing them. Yet, by the agency of often re-creating places that are psychologically loaded, he conceptually ratchets things up a notch. smooth knowing Demand's technique, you direct the eye closer to make sure the images aren't real, that he's not pulling however another fast one.

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