This is my analysis of one of Andrew Gursky’s abstract photos.

Andrew Gursky,  “Shanghai”

 

This is a photo by Andrew Gursky titled “Shanghai”, published in 2000. Some things I think Gursky was interested in capturing in this photo is how the horizontal lines are curved and going in the same direction yet don’t intersect, the way the lines repeat and show a pattern, and how the lighting gradually gets brighter from bottom to top. If I was the photographer, I would name this photo “Inner of a Bee Hive” because I think the layers of lines and the bright yellow resembles a bee hive but the way the lines curve towards you makes it look like you are inside of it.

 

This photo shows line and pattern through the repeated horizontal lines of the hotel levels and shape through the hotel room doors and the rectangular outline of the hallway fence surrounding the potential center of the room or building. I think these rectangles on the railing also show repetition/pattern. There is a soft and smooth texture within the railings and light, and a more solid texture in the walls and doors. There is little variety in lighting but there is more light towards the top which gradually gets slightly dimmer as your focus moves downwards. The focus of the photo is the repetition in railways of different floor levels and the contrast in the dimmer light bellow vs the brighter light above.

 

This is my analysis of the photo and how the formal elements of photography are demonstrated within it.

 

 

Works Cited

Andrew Gursky. Published 2000. “Shanghai”. Photograph. Art Institvte Chicago, accessed 2024.