Thomas Demand (German, born 1964)
Five Drafts (Simulator), 2004
Medium: The complete suite of 5 digital pigment prints on photo rag paper (framed)
Dimensions: 28 × 28 cm (11 x 11 in)
Framed dimensions: 32.5 x 32.5 x 2.7 cm (12.8 x 12.8 x 1.1 in)
Edition of 60 + X: One sheet signed, dated and annotated ‘BAT’ in pencil, all further annotated ‘ok’ in pencil (the ‘bon à tirer’ set)
Condition: Excellent, sold framed
In stock
Thomas Demand takes photographs, but photography is not his medium. The camera is not what has made him famous. His medium is, instead, the lifesize model, a scene built of cardboard, glue and paper that he then photographs as if it were real. Demand is to model-making what Cindy Sherman is to make-up: both construct illusions authenticated, as it were, by documentary photographs. But where Sherman makes herself up, Thomas Demand remakes the world – and so superbly that, for a moment, it seems you’re looking at life. – Laura Cumming, The Guardian, 11 June 2006
Thomas Demand, in full Thomas Cyrill Demand, is a German sculptor and photographer who creates large scale, illusionistic photographs. Demand began his career as a sculptor and took up photography to record the works he created from paper. Today, he creates models only to photograph them and destroys them once documented. His works are recreations of images from the media, which he transforms into life-size paper and cardboard models. The places Thomas Demand reconstructs, although appearing banal, often depict politically or historically significant locations such as the bunker where an assassination attempt was made on Adolf Hitler. Once the models are photographed and destroyed, the photograph is the only remaining record, lending a certain air of of mystery to his practice. Thomas Demand’s photographs question the faithfulness of the photographic medium, and create a disquieting balance between what is real and what is artificial. His images often suggest recent activity yet are devoid of people. Demand’s images demonstrate a dedication to exploring the inner workings of social and historical memory. The artist has been the subject of solo exhibitions at major institutions including Fondazione Prada, Venice; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Serpentine Gallery, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk. He represented Germany at the 26th São Paulo Biennale in Brazil in 2004. Thomas Demand was born in Munich, Germany in 1964.
