CHICAGO.-The MCA is co-organizing the first retrospective exhibition of the German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans in the United States with the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. One of the most important and distinctive artists to emerge in the 1990s, his work is internationally recognized for its richly evocative and stylishly intimate reflection on the often overlooked objects and moments in everyday life. Much of his work concentrates on deceptively casual and unforced views of friends and acquaintances, catching them off-guard and at their most unguardedly “human.”

Tillmans presents his photographs in highly distinctive installations in which ink-jet prints are affixed in deliberate, yet seemingly random, arrangements on the walls in order to create a variety of physical and emotional relationships with the viewer based on placement and scale. The vast range of his images thus becomes an ongoing “palette” of sorts, which he uses repeatedly as a way to constantly rearrange and reinterpret his photographic vision. He has also frequently made discrete series of works that touch upon particular themes such as images of soldiers or views from the Concorde.

Tillmans’ presentation at the MCA features photographic and video works drawn from the entirety of his career. The exhibition is co-curated by Pamela Alper Associate Curator Dominic Molon and Russell Ferguson, Chief Curator, Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles. Pamela Alper Associate Curator Dominic Molon leads a tour of the exhibition on Tuesday, July 18, at noon.