Andreas Gursky

Andreas Gursky (b. 1955) was born in Leipzig, Germany, and studied photography under Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf during the early ’80s.

After leaving the Kunstakademie, he developed what has become his signature style: large-scale color photographs of global sites of tourism, culture, and industry, often shot in a panoramic format or from a great height to achieve an almost omniscient point of view.

Tour de France I

gursky(2007) C-print mounted on plexiglas in artist’s frame, 90cm x 66cm.
© Andreas Gursky, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, NYC.

His aim is not that of traditional reportage, however. Gursky prefers to take advantage of methods of digital enhancement, which aid him in producing compositions that may not present the reality of everyday experience but, rather, reveal the structures behind our everyday engagements.

For STAGES, Gursky presents a special print of his manipulated vision of a stage of the Tour de France from 2006, a fitting tribute to Lance in his comeback year.

He is represented by Matthew Marks Gallery, NYC.