Thomas Ruff

THOMAS RUFF (Zell am Harmersbach, Germany, 1958).
"Gr01". Series "Jpegs II". 2008.
Digital print with ditone pigments on photographic paper, copy 37/45.
(The image is deliberately blurred).
Signed and numbered.
Measurements: 90 x 120 cm.

This work is part of the series "Jpegs II", in which Thomas Ruff digitally manipulates images from the Internet using JPEG file compression software and enlarges them to create a pixelated effect. The central element of the series is the fluctuating visual effect that depends on the viewer's proximity to the works. The images in the series range from scenes of conflict and disaster to idyllic landscapes. The images focus on traditional landscapes and ruins of war, and expose the negative and inherently unpredictable impact of humanity on the environment and on any kind of life.

Thomas Ruff began his career with landscape photography, after which he moved on to photographing interiors and expressionless portraits of his friends, as part of the generation at the center of the political and social changes that occurred 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.