Thomas Demand

by Francesco Bonami, Régis Durand, Francois Quintin

Originally trained as a sculptor, Thomas Demand approaches photography as a means of preserving ephemeral paper constructions but inevitably the camera becomes central to his creative process. At first glance, Demand's works seem to present fragments of a hyperreal and familiar place but, before long, they reveal their true a wholly artificial world reduced to generic forms. Large immaculate photographs of interiors and architectural exteriorsa world peopled with inanimate objects and bathed in uniform lightingare mounted on Plexiglas, which underscores the materiality of the photographic object. For each of his reproductions, Demand constructs life-size models using paper and cardboard, and these forms always allow signs of their true nature to show through. 50 color illustrations.

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Francesco Bonami is an Italian art curator and writer who is currently Honorary Director of Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin. He lives in Milan and Manhattan, New York.