In 1994, Tillmans was responsible for conceiving and realising his first monograph, published by Taschen. It also functioned as his first artist's book, a medium that was to become crucial in the presentation of his images. As the culmination of his work of the early 1990s, the book's success encouraged him to move away from depictions of youth culture and focus on more formal interests such as portraiture and still life. During this period he was mostly based in New York.
Sportflecken, 1996 © Wolfgang Tillmans, 2003	In his portraits, Tillmans avoids the obvious, eliciting uninhibited poses and depicting his subjects in complete control. But he is a participant in the scenario rather than a detached observer and in many photographs the moment of encounter between artist and subject is tangible. A huge bubble jet print of Smokin' Jo 1995 provided the focal point of the exhibition at Portikus in Frankfurt in 1995, presented on an end wall of the space around which all other images were organised. Staring straight out at the viewer, Smokin' Jo becomes a 'super-icon', displaying a self-contained assurance and serenity. During the period 1994-97, culminating with his show at the Chisenhale Gallery in London, Tillmans' arrangements gain greater composure. We begin to see the emergence of characteristics that are recognisable in later works; for example, the division of the vertical image into horizontal bands (Fire Island 1995). There is also a greater preoccupation with each subject's physical properties, evident in the tactile quality of the materials depicted (the knotted bark in Shaker Tree 1995, the weave of the fabric in Sportflecken 1996). Tillmans' desire is to communicate direct experience rather than create a mere representation.