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Jeff Wall: Staged Reality in Contemporary Photography

Jeff Wall1946– | Canadian | Photography, Conceptual Art

Wall produces immaculate cibachrome photographs presented in steel frames and illuminated from behind in light boxes. The expectation created by their detailed realism is often contradicted by their curious subject matter and/or strange titles. In fact, they are carefully staged and posed artificial tableaux, maybe using actors. Wall’s photographs are a clever and near play on what is real and what is art.


Jeff Wall, The Destroyed Room, 1978. Transparency in lightbox, 62 5/8 × 90 1/8 inches. © Jeff Wall. Courtesy the artist and Glenstone Museum.
Jeff Wall, The Destroyed Room, 1978. Transparency in lightbox, 62 5/8 × 90 1/8 inches. © Jeff Wall. Courtesy the artist and Glenstone Museum.
Jeff Wall, A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai), 1993. Transparency in lightbox, 90 1/8 × 148 3/8 inches. © Jeff Wall. Courtesy the artist and Glenstone Museum.
Jeff Wall, A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai), 1993. Transparency in lightbox, 90 1/8 × 148 3/8 inches. © Jeff Wall. Courtesy the artist and Glenstone Museum.

KEY WORKS: A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai), 1993 (London, Tate Collection); Citizen, 1989 (Basel, Switzerland, Kunstmuseum)

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