A German artist and fashion photographer, Juergen Teller, was born on 28th January 1964. He is one of the most eminent photographers of his generation and successfully operates both in the commercial photography world and the art world. He studied at Bayerische Staatslehranstalt für Photographie in Munich, Germany from 1984 to 1986. When he was 22, he shifted to London. He is married to a contemporary art dealer, Sadia Coles, in UK.
Teller utilizes an over-exposed, raw style and uses a Contax G2 camera. He likes working in color, and frequently does self-photography. Instead of saturating colors and bleeding images, Teller uses unprocessed flash that blasts his subjects and keeps colors soft and muted.
His fashion photographs have been published in Another Magazine, Vogue, W Magazine, Self Service, Purple, The Face, i-D, Details, 032c and various other publications.
Juergen Teller gained his first doze of popularity in 1996 with the facade of Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazine, that featured Kristen McMenamy, nude, with the ‘Versace’ marked across the chest in a heart shape. Then, from 1998 Teller has done campaigns for Marc Jacobs. For the 2005 campaign, Teller photographed Cindy Sherman with himself. Other campaigns involved, Charlotte Rampling, Michael Stripe, Rufus Wainwright, Roni Hon, Winona Ryder and so on.
Teller worked with various fashion houses and designers for years, including Yves Saint Laurent, Vivienne Westwood and Helmet Lang. Recently, he has teamed up with Céline. He also recurrently works with Björk, musician. Furthermore, he has worked with renowned names in the fashion industry, Sofia Coppola, Kate Moss, Winona Ryder, Rufus Wainwright and many others. Moreover, he has directed quite a few short films such as, Can I Own Myself in 1998 which featured him as well.
There have been many exhibitions of Teller’s work. Firstly, he participated in group shows at photography museums, like The Photographer’s Gallery in London in 1999 and Fotomuseum Winterthur in 2000. Soon after his Märchenstüberl series, his solo exhibitions were done at the Kunsthalle Mannheim; Munchner Fotomuseum in Munich; Museum Folkwang in Essen; Frans Hals Museum in The Netherlands; Inverleith House in Edinburgh; Fondation Cartier pour l’art in Paris; and Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Bologna.
He also did group exhibitions such as, A Poem About an Inland Sea in the Ukrainian Pavilion at the 52nd International Venice Biennale, Click Double Click in Munich at the Haus der Kunst, Street & Studio at Tate Modern (London), Fashioning Fiction at the Museum of Modern Art and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In Teller’s work, there is no line between fashion and art. He is a photographer who brings these two world’s together and displays them as one. This duality is reproduced in all his works. At one hand, he showcases nudity, celebrities and humor and on the other hand, Teller is the artist – displaying introspective and subtle works. It is difficult to predict Teller’s work, since he always creates something unexpected. All his subjects come together in astonishing poses and different intensities of emotions are reflected in each of his photograph. Teller aims to tell a story in all the pictures he takes. His work has given him a distinctive appeal and recognition worldwide among artists, fashion designers, commercial industries, musicians and art lovers in generals.
At the moment, Juergen Teller’s new work for Marc Jacob’s Men’s Fall and Winter collection 2013 is being described as “absolutely ripping”.
