Thomas Struth (b. 1954) is one of the most compelling artists using photography today. Coming to prominence in his native Germany in the 1970s, Struth captured the atmospheric power of the contemporary urban landscape in his early black-and-white works. With an intent gaze and exacting lens, Struth expanded his range to include color portraits, bringing a unique psychological precision to the tradition of portraiture. Perhaps Struth's best-known works are his majestic, large-scaled museum photographs depicting visitors to some of the world's great museums and buildings, including The Art Institute of Chicago, the Musée du Louvre in Paris, the Accademia in Venice, and the Pantheon in Rome.  These captivating photographs not only transport us to the place depicted, they also provide a chance to reexamine our own selves looking at art. Continuing his interest in series, Struth has recently created expansive works based on the natural world, often training his camera on a particular contemporary melding of nature with technology and architecture.

Deep in the magical semi-darkness of forests and jungles, through the impenetrable yet bright green of the trees, tangled up in tropical plants, rampant jungle vegetation, and mossy brooks, lies paradise. At least it does in Thomas Struth's Paradise series, in which each oversize image is a mesmerizing but photographically distant haven unto itself. From Daintree, Australia to Yunnan Province, China, from the mossy valleys of Yakushima, Japan to the looming pine forests of Bavaria, Germany and the lush rainforests of Brazil, Thomas Struth has carried out his photographic expeditions. Capturing settings of so-called untamed nature, his astonishingly detailed images carry with them thoughts of environmental exploitation, the mystification of nature, and the possibility of nature as utopia.