Andreas Gursky, Chicago, Board of Trade II, 1999 via The Red List
I think I’m starting to appreciate Gursky more. I’ve never been much of a fan of his work, but I’m starting to realize that the sheer size of the photographs and the amount of detail that can be seen must be quite amazing. So far I’ve only been able to see small images in books and on the internet. I’ll try to find somewhere where I can see some of his work in all of its glory – there must be somewhere in New York City.
The German über-photographer Andreas Gursky was the perfect pre-9/11 artist. He excelled at portraying the border-to-border, edgeless hum and busy obliviousness of modern life, what Francis Fukuyama ridiculously declared “the end of history,” George W.S. Trow called “The Context of No Context,” and Rem Koolhaas dubbed “Junkspace.” Not only did Gursky seem to be critical of all this, but his handsome images of trading floors, hotel lobbies, raves, and landscapes were charged with a visual force and intellectual rigor that let you imagine that you were gleaning the grand schemes and invisible rhythms of commerce and consumption. His amazing picture of a convenience store brimming with goods, 99 Cent II, Diptych 2001, which recently became the most expensive photo in history when it was auctioned for over $3.3 million, fizzed like cherry cola but packed the formal power of a Monet.
Also found this article interesting: 99 Cent: A Look at the Widespread Confusion Over a Photo Gursky DIDN’T Shoot