Medium: Imprinted on photopaper
Edition 100 + 20 A.P.
Image size: 40 x 30 cm
Paper size: 50 x 40 cm
Signed, dated and numbered
Born in southwest Germany in 1958, Thomas Ruff has long been viewed as a key figure of the Düsseldorf School of photography, having studied under such greats as Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Düsseldorf Art Academy (where he later taught). Ruff earns his reputation in part through his continual innovation, leading him to explore in recent years the experimental possibilities offered by digital image-making and camera-less photography.
The exhibition at Zurich‘s Mai 36 consisted of new works from Ruff’s “Photograms” and “Negatives” series. The “Photograms” on view are huge prints, with six pieces nearly 8 by 6 feet and one even larger work in landscape format. They are glorious yet enigmatic images, and no wonder, for Ruff creates them with an elaborate process he devised himself. Whereas Surrealists like Man Ray generated monochrome photograms by placing objects on light-sensitive paper and exposing the materials to the sun, Ruff reimagines the photogram as an entirely digital technique. Using neither physical objects nor light-sensitive backgrounds, Ruff instead programs the vectors of a form into animation software customarily used to make 3-D films. Within that digital environment the form is subjected to numerous virtual light sources of different intensities and colors, resulting in the final image. The operation requires mammoth computing power, and the seven photograms in the main exhibition space necessitated the use of the supercomputer JUROPA at a scientific research center in Jülich, Germany. Out of the resulting images, phg.09_II (all works 2014) most resembles the series’ Surrealist forebears, with its white, coglike shapes casting pale shadows on a black background. Elsewhere, phg.02_II gave away next to nothing about its initial subject: yellow, tawny orange, pale green and gray refractions and shadows articulate a reverse S-shape that surges from the bottom right to the top left with a sort of Futurist dynamism.
Die Fotografie von Thomas Ruff umfasst die vollen materiellen Möglichkeiten des Mediums. Der Künstler verwendet eine Reihe von Techniken, die von antiquierter Dunkelkammerproduktion bis hin zu digitaler Manipulation reichen, während er Authentizität, Aneignung und die Grenzen der Fotografie als Kunstform erforscht; seine interessen richten sich eher auf konzeptuelle kunst als auf dokumentarische oder inszenierte fotografie, und seine themen umfassen porträts, landschaften, akte, architektur und abstrakte formen.
Bekannt wurde Ruff als Teil der Düsseldorfer Schule, einer lose verbundenen Gruppe von Fotografen, die bei Bernd und Hilla Becher studierten. Die Serialität seiner Sujets ist inspiriert von der Annahme von „Typologien“ durch die Bechers in ihren eigenen Arbeiten. Ruff hat in New York, London, Tokio, Berlin, Paris und vielen anderen Städten ausgestellt. Seine Arbeiten gehören in die Sammlungen des Art Institute of Chicago, des Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, des Metropolitan Museum of Art, des Moderna Museet, des Guggenheim Museums und des S.M.A.K. Museum für zeitgenössische Kunst, unter anderem.
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