Gursky- The Rhine II

  Gursky - The Rhine II   1999

Visual Language: Water-Air-Earth, colour used to break up image, texture, sharp focus, nature, planes, form, Horizon, muted colour, Platonic, Scale

Themes: The idea of Man-made landscape in that it feature nature but in a constructed way, Line and Shape, Aesthetically driven,  'The Contemporary', Abstraction
Technical Aspects: Medium format, Gursky produced a very large chromogenic colour print of the photograph, mounted it onto acrylic glass, and then placed it in a frame. The image itself measures 190 cm × 360 cm, while the frame measures 81 by 151 inches (210 cm × 380 cm).

    Research

Extraneous details such as dog-walkers and a factory building were removed by the artist via digital editing. Justifying this manipulation of the image, Gursky said "Paradoxically, this view of the Rhine cannot be obtained in situ, a fictitious construction was required to provide an accurate image of a modern river."

Annelie Lütgens, ‘Shrines and Ornaments: A Look into the Display Cabinet’, Andreas Gursky: Fotografien 1994-1998

His aim in using digital technology is not to create fictions but rather to heighten the image of something that exists in the world. He has described the genesis of this work, saying, ‘there is a particular place with a view over the Rhine which has somehow always fascinated me, but it didn’t suffice for a picture as it basically constituted only part of a picture. I carried this idea for a picture around with me for a year and a half and thought about whether I ought perhaps to change my viewpoint ... In the end I decided to digitalise the pictures and leave out the elements that bothered me.

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gursky-the-rhine-ii-p78372/text-summary

Here is a video that shows the place where this image was shot,  it documents the manipulation of the image and Gursky's creative aesthetic choices that involve the construction of landscape for aesthetic reasons. 

My Homage 

I decided to take mainly the visual language and reference them quite overtly, I liked aesthetic of this image, the idea of ratio planes, positioning and sharp focus. The overall image is very polished, rather detached and abstracted which were also aspects I voiced with my homage.

Also the idea theme of construction, although this image is a landscape shot, Gurksy has ignored the typical 'rules' when shooting a landscape scene objectifying nature out of a desire to create. He has also manipulated the natural world further, playing upon the idea of man-made and natural, constructing nature by removing aspects digitally that are not visually pleasing. 

So visually I took the polished, abstract aesthetic, the idea of stark emptiness. Like Gursky's image the idea of planes of colour and texture however I chose to address the concept of construction through very literally- architecture. As the Rhine II was taken 15 years ago, it pre-dates this recently constructed, very modern building so to reflect that in the medium I chose, I decided to shoot in digital raw files to reflect this fresher take on Gursky's landscape.