You really have to see Andreas Gursky’s photographs in the flesh to get the full impact.
Many of them are very large, a technical feat in itself but the thing that staggers me is the fact that every detail, no matter where it is, is in focus; the opposite of how our eyes work.
The clarity of each and every figure in this Breugelesque winter scene, part of the recent show at White Cube, could almost have been Photoshopped in place but no, they are all there at the same time.
Gursky’s images are a commentary on our lives, particularly in the First World West.
Rhein III below shows a very diminished river following the severe drought of 2018. The golden bands are parched grass banks lining a visibly low waterline. It is very different from his Rhein II taken back in 1999.
The Apple HQ below is weirdly confusing with its multiple reflected surfaces.
I enjoyed seeing the green apples on the grass, just by the reflection of my feet in the gallery.
