Thomas Demand German, born 1964
Presidency I, 2008
chromogenic print 122 x 87.8 in.
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Gift from Agnes Gund and Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder
National Gallery of Art has acquired five prints entitled Presidency I–V by Thomas Demand
Thursday 23, 2009 – The National Gallery of Art has acquired five chromogenic prints entitled Presidency I–V (2008) by German photographer Thomas Demand (b. 1964), thanks to a gift from Agnes Gund and Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder
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“These timely and thought-provoking photographs are the first works by Demand to enter the Gallery’s collection,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. “We are very grateful to Agnes Gund and the Lauders for their generous gift.”
Commissioned by The New York Times, Demand’s Presidency I–V photographs explore one of the most prominent seats of power in the world: the Oval Office. Demand constructed a meticulous life-size model of the presidential office from paper, cardboard, and confetti. The resulting images accompanied a cover story for the November 9, 2008, issue of The New York Times Magazine, five days after last year’s presidential election in the United States.
Close inspection of Demand’s life-like images of the Oval Office reveals the omission of certain details, for example in the faceless figures in picture frames and the missing stars of the American flag, drawing attention to the artifice of his scenes. The absence of human attendance lends an emptiness and stillness to the photographs that are antithetical to our expectations of the Oval Office. The five photographs contain complex compositions and skewed perspectives that are also at odds with the ways in which this famous interior is so often depicted. Through these devices, Demand’s deliberately staged re-creation calls into question the authenticity of ideas that are largely dictated by the media.
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