*Frank, in the shower* (2015). Image courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner, New York / Hong Kong, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin / Cologne, Maureen Paley, London

Written by Gabrielle Keung

Photo Edited by Tania Flores

Copy Edited by Janeen Mathisen

Wolfgang Tillmans’ exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, To Look Without Fear resembles a writer’s stream of consciousness. It’s a collage of newspaper clippings; snapshots of night clubs and their revelers (at night and the morning after); crumpled pants and T-shirts hung on the back of a chair or a banister railing; male lovers baring their upper bodies and tenderly kissing; Pride celebrations; reports on the Iraq war and the AIDS epidemic; and fashion icons such as Kate Moss. There are close-ups of nature’s wonder – the rich textures observed at the beach – foamy and creamy white waves crashing onto the shore, pebbles around a crusty, rust iron railway track; and abstract photographic prints that cause Tillmans’ viewers to be in awe of how colors come together and break apart, creating lines charged with energy and rhythm.

*The Cock (kiss)* (2002). Image courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner, New York / Hong Kong, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin / Cologne, Maureen Paley, London

Tillmans’ work is playful because they’re eclectic and seemingly anarchic – anything can be his subject as long as they capture a certain sensibility and pique his interest. The narrative of his work is not straightforward; he has an exceptional ability to highlight the poetry in the everyday – which is messy, incoherent and full of life. He has an eye not only for beauty or spectacle, but for objects that invoke the sensual, the nostalgic and the absurd. His work emphasizes the experience of looking, firing up viewers’ five senses as their eyes move across the photographs and making them shed our inhibitions. For instance, a photograph where a hand goes through a lady’s hair is strangely erotic. Her eyes are closed, her mouth agape and her face is taut. Her reaction to these anonymous hands is one of arousal; her facial expression denotes excitement, desire and enjoyment. As though the rest of the world has fallen away, she closes her eyes to focus on the sensation of those fingers in her hair and on her scalp. She completely lets herself go and sinks into the moment, a moment of being touched and felt. Her reverie infects the viewer and heightens their senses.

*Lutz & Alex sitting in the trees* (1992). Image courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner, New York / Hong Kong, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin / Cologne, Maureen Paley, London

In addition to evoking the sensual, Tillmans’ work engage in political conversations and activism. The newspaper clippings about the Iraq war taped to the white walls are a prime example of involving the viewer in the discussion of controversial military interventions and asks them to confront the cost of violence. There’s a haunting, jarring picture where a single combat boot takes up half the frame and a girl sits a few steps away with her head turned towards the camera. She looks at the viewer, perplexed; viewers think of her uncertain future: it has been arbitrarily placed in the hands of soldiers in harsh, leather combat boots and rifles in their hands. One can only imagine the worst outcome for such an innocent face. This photograph prompts viewers to ask what they’re doing to the younger generation, and in what ways they’re being complicit in this girl’s suffering by staying quiet about it.

*Wolfgang Tillmans:* *Fragile*. Installation view, Contemporary Art Gallery, Yaoundé, Cameroon, 2019. Image courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner, New York / Hong Kong, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin / Cologne, Maureen Paley, London

The dizzying array of photographs in Tillmans’ gallery touch upon substantive matters, whether they cover issues of man-made terror, the environment, sexuality or the quotidian. Tillmans’ observations are acute; he never fails to capture moments of self-expression, including nature’s expressions of hope and passion.

to view more of this exhibition visit here.