Wolfgang Tillmans returns to magazines

The photographer turned musician shoots the cover of Pop and appears on the cover of Arena Homme +

Wolfgang Tillmans has always loved music and magazines. The German Turner Prize winner began his career shooting for fashion titles such as i-D, and, more recently, installed listening facilities in his Berlin gallery, Between Bridges, so that visitors could appreciate a Colourbox album in the same manner they might admire a selection of paintings or photographs.

Over the past few months the photographer has become a little more involved in the music scene, releasing his own record, contributing to Frank Ocean’s album Endless, and even performing live, as part of his band Fragile.

Now, to round off the year, he’s produced covers for two of the world’s leading fashion magazine, Pop and Arena Homme +, and pushed his pop music a little further.

Wolfgang Tillmans' new shoot for Pop magazine. Image courtesy of Pop

The special edition Pop cover features a cover shoot with model Georgia Howorth wearing clothes by the German born designer Lutz Huelle. Inside, there’s an interview with Tillmans, wherein he describes his renewed love of music. “At this time whatever brings people together is productive,” he says. “I’m new to music, but I feel confident in its power. A lot of the 1960s was based on the power of music. I still in real terms today enjoy the advances that music achieved then.”

Wolfgang Tillmans on the cover of the new edition of Arena Homme Plus. Image courtesy of Arena Homme Plus

The Arena Homme P+ cover shoot illustrates this, with images taken over the summer on Fire Island New York, where Tillmans was working with fellow band members Rosie Slater, Jay Pluck, Juan Pablo Echeverri, Kyle Combs, Tom Roach and Daniel Pearce to develop their sound.

Listen to Device Control above and find out more about this contemporary artist and photographer in our Wolfgang Tillmans book, which forms part of our Contemporary Artist Series.