The master of photo art: Andreas Gursky

It's not a historical photo, but a work of art. German photographer Andreas Gursky digitally installed the heads of four German chancellors in front of a painting by Barnett Newman. The result, created in 2011, is called "Rückblick" (Retrospect). Current German Chancellor Angela Merkel is second from right. The others, from the left, are Gerhard Schröder, Helmut Schmidt and Helmut Kohl.

Andreas Gursky tends to be reserved and doesn't speak much about his work. But he got a lot of questions at the press conference for his current solo exhibition at the Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden in southern Germany. The exhibition shows 34 photographic works that span three centuries of Gursky's career. Most are in large format, with one image in a small 54x43-centimeter format.

This work "Frankfurt" is over 5 meters wide and was created in 2007, but is still very current. "The people in this image are clearly not from western Europe, but from the Arab world," pointed out exhibition curator Udo Kittelmann. However, the artist said that the work is not a commentary on the current refugee crisis.

From the back-lighted shelves in the newly opened Prada shop to Nike's sculpture-like shoe presentation, Andreas Gursky reduces the icons of consumerism to their basic structures. He uses the aesthetic beauty of his photographs to comment on social issues. One of his most recent works from 2014 is called "Lager" (Warehouse).

People only rarely appear in Gursky's works and, when they do, then usually in the background. In "Hamm, Bergwerk Ost," named after a mine in Germany's industrial Ruhr region, the coal miners' world stands for capitalist social change. The workers' everyday clothing has long become a relict of a bygone industrial era.

Eight square meters of art: Gursky simply calls this huge work from 2007, "Kathedrale." The people practically disappear against the monumental backdrop of the filigree church windows - but one of them is none other than German filmmaker Wim Wenders. In reality, this church in Dusseldorf has pillars in the middle which were photoshopped out of the artwork.

Monumental, large-scale works are his trademark. Gursky has photographed ghettos and anonymous residences from Asia to North America to Europe. Here is one of his most famous c-prints, "Paris, Montparnasse" (1993), which was photographed in two parts and later combined digitally. You have to look very closely to discover the people in the image.

Gursky has brought many photographic still-lifes back from Asia, like "Bangkok VI" (2011). For many years, he's traveled around the world to capture social hot spots. He often spends months or even years working on digital post-editing after taking a photo. His works come into existence long after he pushes the shutter on his camera.

For Gursky, fashion is a commercial industry. People are turned into mannequins - like interchangeable hat stands. In "V&R" (2011), he conveys the uniformity of the fashion scene, from facial expressions to swagger and makeup.

Gursky (pictured left) worked with Udo Kittelmann, director of the National Gallery in Berlin, to put together an exhibition in 2007. In the exhibition now running through January 16, 2016, at the Museum Frieder Burda, curator Kittelmann reveals Gursky's political side and gives an overview of nearly three decades of works by the Dusseldorf photo artist.