Early in his career, Gursky began to photograph public spaces, or "leisure-spaces," such as public swimming pools, recreational parks, etc. These works, combined with other sublime photographs of nature, have drawn critics to connect Gursky's work with German Romantic painters such as Caspar David Friedrich.
Gursky began digitally manipulating his prints as new photographic technologies were invented. In The Broad Art Foundation's 99 Cent Store, 1999, Gursky has altered the image to place the foreground and background on the same visual plane and eliminate atmospheric perspective.
Recently, an anonymous bidder paid $2.48 million – with a sense of irony, one hopes – for Gursky's "99 Cent II Diptychon" (2001), which shows the cluttered interior of a discount store.
You can read more about Andreas Gursky at Wikipedia.
