Thomas Demand
Thomas Demand is a German artist born in 1964 in Munich, known for his innovative blend of photography and sculpture. He studied at various prestigious institutions, including the Akademie der Bildenden Künste and Goldsmiths College, before establishing his unique artistic practice. Demand creates intricate models out of cardboard and colored paper that he meticulously photographs, often focusing on culturally significant events and spaces. His works explore themes of memory and media influence, with notable pieces depicting scenes related to historical figures and events, including Adolf Hitler's bunker and settings associated with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
By simplifying complex subjects into staged, controlled environments, Demand emphasizes specific details while stripping away extraneous elements. His artistic process is labor-intensive, often involving both solitary creation and collaboration with teams for larger works. In addition to static images, Demand has also ventured into moving images, applying his signature approach to film. His contributions have led to a resurgence of interest in art photography and have garnered him an international following, with exhibitions around the world. Demand's work raises provocative questions about representation, reality, and the nature of contemporary visual culture.
Thomas Demand
Photographer and sculptor
- Born: 1964
- Birthplace: Munich, Germany
Also known as: Thomas Cyrill Demand
Education: Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts/Munich); Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Art Academy); Goldsmiths College (London)
Significance: Thomas Demand's photographs deliberately lie to the viewer. The scenes he creates out of cardboard appear to be real buildings and rooms. By calling into question the reliability of the images, the artist redefines photography, which is generally regarded as a representation of truth. At the same time, however, Demand has described himself as a sculptor who employs media, rather than a photographer.
Background
Thomas Demand was born in a postwar nation still coming to terms with its past. He was born in 1964 in Munich, Germany. From 1987 to 1990, he attended the Akademie der Bildenden Künste. He next studied sculpture at the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1990 to 1993. He had his first solo exhibition in 1992 at Tanit Galerie, Munich. He next traveled to London, where he attended Goldsmiths College for a year.
Demand wanted to document paper and cardboard structures he was creating as a student. The boundaries of various art studies were clearly drawn, however, and he had to beg the photography department to let him borrow a camera he could use. By 1993, however, he was much more focused on the photographic results. He began creating cardboard and colored-paper sculptures that were designed specifically for the camera—the photographic goal drove the sculpting process. Demand broke down the walls that separated two arts—photography and sculpture—to create a unique visual experience.
Life's Work
Demand's photographs are windows into much more than a physical space. They are often studies of culturally significant events and times. His large three-dimensional scenes, which appear to be real settings, are often inspired by his own memories as well as the mass media. As a result, many of Demand's scenes are related to news events and have political overtones. Room is a representation of Adolf Hitler's bunker. Corridor depicts the hallway of the building where serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer lived. Office is the Stasi secret police headquarters in East Berlin. Barn is based on a photograph by Hans Namuth showing artist Jackson Pollock's studio on Long Island. In Poll, the viewer sees the Palm Beach, Florida, room where the recount for the 2000 US presidential election was conducted. In each case, the title of the image is decidedly simple, while the subject matter is complex. All are photographs of life-size models Demand created, lit, photographed, and destroyed.
When he decides on a model he wishes to construct, he finds images in the media or archives, and studies them. He builds a pared-down version of the chosen setting, and edits out details, text, and people. Although the work is meant to capture a fleeting moment in time, the model-building phase is labor intensive. By creating the models that he photographs, Demand is able to control the scene and emphasize exactly what interests him. He removes extraneous material, selects the colors, and lights it to best highlight what he wants in the photograph.
He works alone building his models most of the time. His studio is filled with stacks and fragments of papers of many colors. Demand requires some assistance with erecting his walls; because they are so large, one person cannot get them into position. Some of his more ambitious models needed more hands as well. His panoramic scenes required the work of thirty to forty people. He uses a variety of cameras to take his photos, and prints them using a number of methods, including ink-jet printing.
During the 2010s, he began using photos he had taken with his cell phone as the basis of models. He said this was a result of the realization that the vast majority of images people see in modern times are digital images they snap on the go. He created a series of these images, Dailies, that depicts simple objects and settings, including a plant viewed through the frosted panes of a window. These prints were made using the laborious dye transfer method by a skilled photographic printer.
Not all of his images are of rooms he has created. In addition to his interior views, Demand has created some panoramic scenes. Clearing (2003) shows a reconstruction of the Giardini, a public park in Venice. Grotto (2006) depicts a cave in Majorca, an island off the coast of Spain. The grotto sculpture is the one exception to his rule of destruction—it found a permanent home in Milan's Fondazione Prada. Demand also created a series, Model Studies, using the architectural models of John Lautner.
Demand has devoted time to creating experimental moving images as well. He created Recorder in 2002. It consists of a 35-millimeter film loop of an eight-track reel-to-reel recording device apparently playing "Smile," a song by the Beach Boys. The machine, however, is another paper model, incapable of really producing sound. It is both a visual and auditory distortion of the truth. Pacific Sun, a 100-second film created using stop-motion animation, is the result of nearly one year's work by a twelve-person crew. Demand created a model of a cruise ship's dining room, which he altered repeatedly for each of the 2,400 frames required. As the ship is tossed about on rough seas, the tables and chairs slide across the floor. Items on the bar are jolted back and forth, and finally tumble off and out of sight.
The artist has an international presence and following. He has exhibited his works at many galleries around the world.
Impact
Demand produces pared-down images of scenes. His aesthetic is simplicity, which he believes is the hallmark of the last century of what he calls the best art. He is credited with a resurgence in interest in art photography. Demand believed photography was dying when he began working in the field; during the 2010s, however, he said photography was thriving, while photographers were dying, because everyone had become photographers. The equipment could do the work of creating beautiful images.
Personal Life
From the late 1990s until the early 2010s, Demand primarily lived and worked in Berlin. He moved to Los Angeles, California, although he traveled a great deal. He also spent significant time in Hamburg, where he was a professor of sculpture.
Principal Works
Staircase, 1995
Corridor, 1995
Barn, 1997
Poll, 2001
Recorder, 2002
Clearing, 2003
Kitchen, 2004
Grotto, 2006
Model Studies (series), 2011
Pacific Sun, 2012
Bibliography
Blanch, Andrea. "Interview with Thomas Demand: Demannd's Way." Musée, 10 June 2014, museemagazine.com/culture/art-2/features/interview-with-thomas-demand-demannds-way. Accessed 29 Sept. 2017.
"Thomas Demand." Guggenheim, www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/thomas-demand. Accessed 29 Sept. 2017.
"Thomas Demand." Matthew Marks Gallery, HYPERLINK "http://www.matthewmarks.com/new-york/artists/thomas-demand/" www.matthewmarks.com/new-york/artists/thomas-demand/. Accessed 29 Sept. 2017.
"Thomas Demand." MOMA, 2005, NK "http://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/116" www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/116. Accessed 29 Sept. 2017.
"Thomas Demand: 'Aesthetics Are Inevitable.'" The Talks, 28 Feb. 2014, HYPERLINK "http://the-talks.com/interview/thomas-demand/" the-talks.com/interview/thomas-demand/. Accessed 29 Sept. 2017.
"Thomas Demand: Pacific Sun." LACMA, "http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/thomas-demand-pacific-sun" www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/thomas-demand-pacific-sun. Accessed 29 Sept. 2017.
"Thomas Demand's Pacific Sun." Getty Research Institute, 29 Mar. 2012, www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions‗events/events/pacific‗sun.html. Accessed 29 Sept. 2017.
Weaver, Suzanne. "Artist Thomas Demand's Photographs Are a View within a View." Dallas News, June 2016, www.dallasnews.com/arts/arts/2016/06/16/artist-thomas-demands-photographs-are-a-view-within-a-view. Accessed 29 Sept. 2017.
Weingart, Ken. "An Interview with German Fine Art Photographer Thomas Demand." PetaPixel, 22 Sept. 2015, HYPERLINK "https://petapixel.com/2015/09/22/an-interview-with-german-fine-art-photographer-thomas-demand/" petapixel.com/2015/09/22/an-interview-with-german-fine-art-photographer-thomas-demand/. Accessed 29 Sept. 2017.