Provenance
Maureen Paley, London
Catalogue Essay
By incorporating abstract forms into his pictures, Wolfgang Tillmans challenges the potentialities of photography. Bordering on the abstract, Paper Drop is a detailed representation of a paper sheet with little contextualization. This ambiguity is purposefully portrayed by the artist, instead, the camera seeks to celebrate the shimmering and gleaming polychrome surfaces of both the curling paper and the background. The paper not only performs a ‘dance’ of reflections and shadows inside the picture but also plays with the three-dimensionality of the physical photograph in front of the viewer. Against the idea of the existence of a pure white, Tillmans explores a number of photographically producible white tones of the paper, the background and the wall on which the photograph will be displayed. White mixes and mingles with the grey and other marginal hues creating an extremely tangible and sculptural image. The present lot exemplifies Tillmans successful and prolific battle with art showing that photography can be explored and considered outside of its use in documentary and decorative function. Questions about the narrative and purpose of the piece of paper, are conflated with a contemplation of a material within material, or rather, paper within paper. The play of line, form and colour are in a clear dialogue with the painterly tradition thus revealing that, despite the absence of paint on canvas or marble turned into sculpture, his abstract images are no less physical, artistic or indeed beautiful. German-born, Tillmans rose to international fame during the 1990s as a photorealist-style photographer. Subsequently, in 2000, Tillmans became the first photographer (and non English) artist to have been awarded the prestigious Turner Prize.
Artist Biography
Wolfgang Tillmans
German • 1968
Since the early 1990s, Wolfgang Tillmans has pushed the boundaries of the photographic medium. Challenging the indexical nature traditionally associated with photography, his abstract and representational photographic bodies of work each in their own way put forward the notion of the photograph as object—rather than as a record of reality. While achieving his breakthrough with portraits and lifestyle photographs, documenting celebrity culture as well as LGBTQ communities and club culture, since the turn of the millennium the German photographer has notably created abstract work such as the Freischwimmer series, which is made in the darkroom without a camera.
Seamlessly integrating genres, subject matters, techniques and exhibition strategies, Tillmans is known for photographs that pair playfulness and intimacy with a persistent questioning of dominant value and hierarchy structures of our image-saturated world. In 2000, Tillmans was the first photographer to receive the prestigious Turner Prize.
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32

Wolfgang Tillmans

Paper Drop (White) b

2004
Photograph
202.5 x 134.9 cm. (79 3/4 x 53 1/8 in.)
Signed and numbered 'Wolfgang Tillmans 1/1+1' on a label accompanying the work. This work is from an edition of 1 plus 1 artist's proof.

Estimate
£25,000 - 35,000 ♠

Sold for £25,000

Contact Specialist
Peter Sumner
Head of Contemporary Art, London
psumner@phillips.com
+44 207 318 4063

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London Evening Sale 10 February 2014 7pm

1
Fredrik Værslev
Untitled (Frieze Garden Painting #02)
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ♠
Sold for £48,750
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2
Lucien Smith
Feet in the Water
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
Sold for £194,500
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3
Adam McEwen
Rite Aid
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ♠†
Sold for £170,500
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4
Urs Fischer
Nail Duo
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
Sold for £230,500
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5
Dan Colen
It's Only Natural (The Replacement)
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6
Nate Lowman
Untitled Marilyn #13
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £530,500
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7
Sterling Ruby
SP56
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
Sold for £494,500
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8
Christopher Wool
Untitled
Estimate £800,000 - 1,200,000 ‡
Sold for £1,314,500
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9
Andreas Gursky
Ocean IV
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ♠
Sold for £338,500
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10
Rosemarie Trockel
Untitled
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡♠
Sold for £116,500
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11
Yayoi Kusama
Infinity Nets OPQR
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £458,500
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12
Urs Fischer
Cutting a Cake with a Hammer
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000
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13
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £350,000 - 450,000 ‡♠
Sold for £470,500
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14
Andy Warhol
One Multicolored Marilyn (Reversal Series)
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡
Sold for £1,082,500
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15
Gerhard Richter
Abstraktes Bild 776-1 (Abstract Painting)
Estimate £1,800,000 - 2,200,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,930,500
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16
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Butterfly)
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
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17
Michaël Borremans
The Portrait
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ‡♠
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18
Donald Judd
Untitled
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Sold for £326,500
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19
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Uomo con gli stivali al telefono
Estimate £350,000 - 450,000 ♠
Sold for £614,500
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20
Andy Warhol
Miguel Berrocal
Estimate £300,000 - 400,000 ‡
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21
Komar and Melamid
Karl Marx and Cornucopia (Diptych)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
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22
Semyon Faibisovich
Winter Day, from the “Shuttle Bus” series
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡
Sold for £62,500
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23
This lot is no longer available.
24
Chris Ofili
The Saga Continues...The Journey from Hell
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
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25
Banksy
Happy Shopper
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Sold for £506,500
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26
Banksy
Rembrandt
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Sold for £398,500
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27
Jacob Kassay
Untitled
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Sold for £86,500
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28
This lot is no longer available.
29
Damien Hirst
Night Follows Day (Diptych)
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
Sold for £578,500
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30
Ashley Bickerton
Bismarck Archipelago Shark
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Sold for £104,500
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31
Robert Longo
Spanish Blood
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £170,500
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32
Wolfgang Tillmans
Paper Drop (White) b
Estimate £25,000 - 35,000 ♠
Sold for £25,000
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33
This lot is no longer available.
34
Oscar Murillo
Untitled
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡♠
Sold for £98,500
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35
Mark Flood
Pink Summer Day
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000
Sold for £80,500
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London Evening Sale 10 February 2014 7pm

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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

Wolfgang Tillmans

32

Wolfgang Tillmans

Paper Drop (White) b

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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