The work of Andreas Gursky deals specifically with the activities of man. The human figure has always been a central concern to his photographs, and once again, provides the focus for his latest pictures.
The earlier work recorded the leisurely activities of the "homo ludens". With characteristically cool objectivity, Gursky observed and photographed man at his play, in all its mundane forms. Frequently, the figure was reduced to invisibility in these photographs, either through its remoteness, or its actual physical absence - leaving behind only traces of playful endeavor.
As a counterpoint, the latest works from 1990, document the various locales of the "homo laborans". They show the landscapes and interiors of industrious man. He is recorded in his essential self - creating through labor. As with the previous series, the figure is again marginalised by his surroundings, but now it is his own man made environment rather than the natural. All sense of the pastoral has disappeared, and we are left with the gleaming rhythmic detail of mechanized factory production.
Despite these marked differences in content, the two series retain much in common - neutrally illustrated; photographed with a high degree of precision; creating a blissful image of shadowless clarity and impressionistic brightness. There is a paradox in this stage-like, peaceful idealization of the de-humanized surrounding of the late capitalist work environment. These tranquil, poetic (utopian) depictions of man's intrusive activities, produces a singularity and unrealness perhaps more potent than any of Gursky's previous work.