Wolfgang Tillmans at the Serpentine: photography at its finest

A name as big as Wolfgang Tillmans set high expectations. A photographer, a Turner Prize winner, Tillmans redefined photography in the last decade and constantly pushes boundaries. This summer he returns to London with a big solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery and after careful planning of site specific installations, the works were hang up swiftly in two days, then the doors were officially opened to the public yesterday.

The biggest delight of his new works are the series of abstract prints in full scales that are enlarged from random dirt on the silver drum of Tillmans' s printer. They are like lively human-cell dancers jumping off the stage and in and out of focus, in beautiful and perfect forms. The beauty of photography as Tillmans illustrates here, is not only in the final image itself but also in the process and the materials. "These photographs are manifestations of different physical forces..." Tillmans said. "Everything is done with simple means- a 35mm camera and a normal lens- not a huge computer program".

Perhaps the biggest attraction of Tillmans's work is his ability to visualise everything and anything in photography, be it sheer volumes of pure colour and shade, a stack of egg cartons or the transits of planet Venus. Tillmans likes to challenge the audience of their traditional perception of photography. Here is a piece of bended yellow print of nothing, there are a group of over developed films of barely anything in red and green. Some may be disappointed but many I suspect, would find it pleasantly surprising.

Tillmans's exhibition's open until 19th of September 2010.