Thomas Demand: the artist, the photographer, the sculptor, the legend! Most well known for his intricate paper sculptures, Demand is one of the most innovative artists and creators of modern time. Combining technique with a heaping helping of German-sized ingenuity, the attention to detail in his work is almost astounding, due to how uncannily it resembles that which it is a facsimile of. Thus, to appreciate this work in full, it is necessary to begin from the proverbial primordial pool. Journey through time to experience the drama, the passion, the tragedy, and romance of one Mr. Tommy Demand!!!!!!
Verse 1: The Book of Thomas
Born in Munich, Germany in 1964, Thomas Demand was a man destined for greatness, whose success was only a paper clip away. This success was seemingly stymied by a trilogy of schools that he attended, which included Akademie de Bildenden Kunste, Staatliche Kunstakademie Dusseldorf, and Goldsmith College. Though trained as a sculptor, his fascination with paper/cardboard manipulation took a turn for the photographic when applied to life sized models. Thus, many of these creations were made with the sole intention of being photographed These would begin with preexisting images, most of which are politically centered, which are eventually reformatted into paper reproductions. Once created and documented, the pieces were destroyed. One of these pieces was Copyshop (1999), a paper copying room……constructed of paper. Genius!!!!!!
Many of the places recreated held some political or historical significance, such as Corridor(1995), which represents the hallway going to Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment. These types of topical pieces would become a staple of Demand’s early work.
Verse 2: The Quest for Peace
Demand would continue to do more “everyday” pieces which strayed away from the somewhat political aura of his initial pieces. These would include pieces such as Space Simulator (2003). 
Demand would also begin to experiment with film, such as 2002’s Recorder, which was a video of paper model of a recording device seemingly played music from the Beach Boys. This marked an evolution from the photographic documentation of earlier.
Eventually, however, Demand would return to the tropes that had garnered him his initial success
Verse 3: Back by Popular Demand
Eventually, Demand would return to the style of recreating the scenes of tragedies or historically significant areas. Spawning from this return to form was 2006’s Landing, which depicted the horrific, inhuman aftermath of a man tripping over his shoelaces and accidentally destroying three pieces of Qing Dynasty art at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Such a tragedy is almost inappropriate for children. 
Combined with his new interest in video documentation, this also resulted in the short film Pacific Sun. The idea for Pacific Sun came from footage of a cruise ship being thrashed about in a storm.
Another piece that Demand has created since then is 2011’s Kontrollraum (Control Room).
In 2012, Demand received an honorary doctorate degree from Royal College of Art. As of 2014, Demand currently lives/works in both Berlin and Los Angeles. He cites Gerhard Richter and Ed Ruscha as his two chief inspirations, much as he has surely inspired the rest of humanity through his eloquent work.
Bibliography
Guggenheim.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
W, Casey. “Chapter 9 Synopsis: Thomas Demand’s Allegories of Intention; “exclusion” in Candida Hofer, Hiroshimi Sugimoto, and Thomas Struth.” Thoughts on Contemporary Photography. N.p., 28 Feb. 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
“Exhibitions: Thomas Demand.” Moma.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
Bunyan, Marcus. “Exhibitions: Thomas Demand at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.” Artblart.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
“Thomas Demand.” – Queensland Art Gallery. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.