Thomas Ruff

THOMAS RUFF (Zell am Harmersbach, Germany, 1958).
"Phg." 2014.
Chromogenic color print, mounted on aluminum board (Dibond).
Edition of 40 copies, signed and numbered on the back.
Measurements: 74 x 58 cm.

This work by Thomas Ruff is part of a series inspired by the early surrealist photograms of László Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray, as well as the later works of Christian Schad. Schad produced black-and-white photographs experimentally without using a camera. As is often the case, Ruff takes an old idea, the direct printing of light from objects on photographic paper, and transposes it to the digital world. The objects are no longer projected in the darkroom, but directly on the computer with the help of software developed especially for the artist, they move virtually and are exposed to light; in this sense, he creates his own virtual darkroom. The shapes, circles, waves, lines, crystals, spirals, lenses and stencils created here leave traces that are eventually transferred to paper as C-prints.

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.