“Making a portrait is a fundamental artistic act and the process of it is a very direct human exchange. The dynamics of vulnerability, exposure, embarrassment and honesty do not change, ever.”
—Wolfgang Tillmans
In his 2008-13 series Central Nervous System, Wolfgang Tillmans explores the extreme vulnerability and beauty of the human body, focusing with endless fascination on the most fragile and intimate parts of his one subject, Karl. In the present work, we see the taut nape of Karl’s exposed neck as he turns away from the camera. Captured in sublime detail, this monumental portrait exemplifies Tillmans’s uncanny ability to instil a sense of wonder in the everyday. In 2017, Collum was exhibited as part of a major show dedicated to the artist at London’s Tate Modern. Between September 2022 and January 2023, New York’s MoMA presents Tillmans’s first museum retrospective in the United States.