Wolfgang Tillmans (b. 1968)

In this captivating self-portrait, Wolfgang Tillmans playfully disturbs the traditional relationship between artist and viewer. As Helen Sainsbury, curator of Tillmans’ retrospective at Tate Modern, has written, ‘Tillmans has always been sensitive to the public side of his role as an artist, acknowledging that putting images out in the public world unavoidably places himself in the picture as well’ (W. Tillmans, Wolfgang Tillmans 2017, Tate Publishing, 2017). In The Point III, the artist manages to simultaneously maintain both a subtle distance from and a direct involvement with his onlookers. Through the artist’s bare skin and powerful gaze, an honest and self-conscious vulnerability is exposed: ‘I think the primary function for me of a photograph,’ he has written, ‘is that it allows me to think about the world in a non-verbal way, which is very direct and at the same time incredibly subtle’ (Phaidon Agenda, Ten Questions for Wolfgang Tillmans, 8 May 2014). In this work, Tillmans plainly, yet self-effacingly, places himself within the picture and exposes the artist behind the camera.