Thomas Ruff

THOMAS RUFF (Zell am Harmersbach, Germany, 1958).
Untitled.
Fujiflex print, mounted on aluminum (Dibond).
Edition of 15 copies signed and numbered on the back, on support.
Measurements: 21 x 27 cm.

In this work, Ruff recovers an archive photo: underwater explosion (depth charge, 1948). It is part of a series of appropriations of historical or journalistic photographs that Thomas Ruff recovers to dismantle the idea of truth in the photographic image. They are often sensationalist or dramatically charged documents. By extracting them from their context and digitally manipulating them, Ruff re-signifies them and reveals the mechanisms of image circulation.

Thomas Ruff began his career with landscape photography, after which he moved on to photographing interiors and inexpressive portraits of his friends, as part of the generation at the center of the political and social changes that took place with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Between 1977 and 1985 Ruff studied photography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf, along with other photographers, today of recognized prestige, such as Candida Höfer, Andreas Gursky and Thomas Struth, and who are part of the so-called Düsseldorf school, whose parents are Hilla and Bernd Becher. His first portraits are small format and in black and white, but he soon makes the transition to color. In 1986 he began to experiment with large formats. With his series Haus (1987-91) he explores themes beyond portraiture. Other relevant series from this period are Zeitungsfotos (1990-91) or BlaueAugen (1991). During the Gulf War, Ruff uses a night viewfinder to produce gloomy images of the streets of Düsseldorf in his series Nacht (1992-96). In his later works he continues to explore the digital manipulation of images, in this context he executes his series of nudes, the Substrat series (2002-03) and the Machine series (2003). Ruff has had solo exhibitions since 1981 in various international centers and museums. He lives and works in Düsseldorf.