3 pictures I think about all the time & (Wolfgang Tillmans made Adidas shorts canon)

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🌸 Good morning/afternoon/evening, depending on where you are in the world. : )

There are several pictures I think about all the time. For whatever reason, they rise to the top again and again.

I’m going to take you through three that live in my head.

1. Gus Powell - from Lunch Pictures (1998 - 2007)

Stuck in my mind forever. <3

Gus Powell’s street work is some of the best from an interesting transitional time in photography, camera awareness, and New York. A layered, compositionally masterful photo I think about all the time.

2. This picture, date unknown.

Judging by the look of the 00s photo quality and what they’re wearing, I’m gonna get it’s ~ 2006 or something.

I bring it up in conversation about once a year, sometimes more. I love it so much and wish I knew who took it. Every time I cheers with beer, I’m mentally here with these people.

3. Wolfgang Tillmans - Lacanau (self), 1986

from one of my WT books I flip through a lot

This perfect Tillmans variation on a theme: Adidas shorts.

a picture I took at MoMA at the Tillmans retrospective in 2022 on one of many visits

Wolfgang Tillmans singlehandedly made Adidas shorts gay-coded AND part of photography culture / canon.

Faltenwurf Prinzessinnenstrasse / Pines, 2019.

A close friend of mine (who is fifteen years my senior and extremely accomplished in his own creative business) happens to own one of these *canonical* Adidas shorts pictures (above) and it’s on display in his apartment.

I love it. Not my top of the series (Lacanau), but I love it so much:

The reds clashing 👍

The purplish, red hues looking kind of disgusting together 👍

The sheen of the shorts on the dull towel 👍

The 3-stripe edge of the shorts following the edge of the towel too perfectly that it feels wrong, but also right? 👍

The almost invisible edge of the white wall they’re drapped over, layered against the wall behind 👍

A straight photograph that reads almost as collage 👍

Oof.

If I ever had the funds to buy a Tillmans, it would be one with Adidas shorts.

Magritte owns the green apple, Tillmans the Adidas short.

Thanks for reading.

Cait 🌸

p.s.

Other iconic Adidas vibes from WT:

Red Adidas, 2007

cover of Manual by WT, 2007

Arnd, Adidas shirt, 1991.

This is what I think about! See you next time!

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What is High Thought?

📸 High Thought is written by Cait Oppermann, a creative laborer in the world of art, advertising, & what falls between.

@flowersfullservice & @caitoppermann

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