There’s something both cinematic and theatrical about the work of photographer Jeff Wall, even in those of his images which are unstaged. The Canadian has a knack of finding the drama in any situation, and is a skilled practitioner at creating scenes with a strong narrative and just the right amount of plausible reality, often based on his own experiences.
Jeff Wall – Tableaux Pictures Photographs 1996–2013 is the first major photography exhibition at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum since its re-opening a couple of years ago. The year 1996 is an important one for Wall as it marked the artist’s first output in black and white paper prints; since beginning his career in the the ’80s he had worked in colour transparencies backlit by fluorescent strips in lightboxes of the kind usually employed in advertising. Wall is also a pioneer in the field of large-scale photography, and the show occupies four exhibition spaces in the museum. Running from 1 March to 3 August.
Jeff Wall,
Boxing, 2011,
colour photograph,
courtesy of the artist
Jeff Wall,
Boy Falls From Tree, 2010,
colour photograph,
courtesy of the artist
Jeff Wall,
Volunteer, 1996,
gelatine silverprint,
courtesy of the artist
Jeff Wall,
Overpass, 2001,
transparency in lightbox,
courtesy of the artist
