Andreas Gursky

Andreas Gursky is one of the most important international artists working with the medium of photography.

The filmmaker Ralph Goertz accompanied Andreas Gursky for eight years with his camera in his studio, taking photographs, in his class at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art, setting up his exhibition at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen and at his first retrospective at the Hayward Gallery in London.

The film traces Gursky's artistic process and provides deep insights into the work of this exceptional artist, from his beginnings in 1977 at the Folkwangschule in Essen, to his move to the Becher class at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1980 and his first free artistic works. Since the 1980s, he has continuously developed his work from analogue to digital photography, creating his own visual world. Gursky and Goertz talking about his working methods, the artist's approach to the medium of photography and his often cited proximity to painting.

In an interview with Goertz in 2012, Beat Wismer, former director of the Museum Kunstpalast, spoke about the freedom of painting not having to adhere to reality, thus bringing Gursky's pictures from the 2011 "Bangkok" series closer to painting. The film explores this thesis and also traces the development of the medium of photography in the 2010s, when Gursky created works such as "Storage" (2014), "Review" (2015) and "Untitled XVIII-XXI" (2015-16). Gursky, who was aware of his proximity to painting, consciously reaffirms his commitment to photography in this film - and especially in his works of the last five years.

"It's very important to me that we're not talking about painting here,

but about photography." - Andreas Gursky

This documentary provides highlights such as unpublished Super8 shots from Gursky's childhood, private moments at Sven Väth's techno party at the Connect Festival and his explanations of hanging concepts.

In a conversation with Marion Ackermann (former director of the Kunstsammlung Northrhine-Westfalia) they talk about iconic works such as "Rhein" or "Amazon", but also about the importance of music for Gursky.

The filmmaker also talks to Beat Wismer, Ralph Rugoff, Monika Sprüth and Martin Parr, who are important fellows the artist, and presents their views on Gursky's work. The result is a very personal portrait that provides deep insights into his artistic work, away from the cult of the artist and the art market.

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End of 2017 we met Andreas Gursky during his preparations at his studio for his first Retrospective at the Hayward Gallery in London.

The media interest was big, when he opened his show in London on 23 Jan 2018. There we met the artist for an exclusive interview and produced film and photo footage of the exhibit.

In 2018 we met Andreas Gursky at the Kunstakademie right after he did end his teaching.