"Andreas Gursky (born 1955) has ranked for many years among the world's leading photographic artists. Works 80-08 unfurls the artist's oeuvre in all its encyclopaedic glory. Gursky selected over 150 images from his archive of photographs especially for this publication, reaching back in time to his student days at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen, and then to his formative studies with Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Beginning with the earliest exposures, such as the "Desk Attendants" and other unpublished photographs, the publication follows his development through to the middle-eastern and Asian works of 2007/2008. Every single exposure in Gursky's encyclopaedic morphology is a vital piece in the puzzle, which over some 28 years has expanded into one of the most breathtaking and vertiginous visions of our times."
