Thomas Ruff

Artist

Thomas Ruff
Germany 1958

Dealer

André Simoens Gallery

Thomas Ruff is an internationally renowned German photographer, who began studying under Bernd Becher at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf. He developed his method of conceptual serial photography. Early works bear the mark of his training and of his attitude but he has never stuck to one genre or method. Ruff has been testing the limits of his medium for more than two decades. He is perhaps best known for his revival of the portrait during the early 1980s, and for blowing the prints up to a monumental scale. He also borrowed images, as in Stars, where he reprinted details of photos of night skies shot by the European Southern Observatory. The JPEG’s are digital images from various sources on the internet or scanned postcards and are printed in an extremely large format so you can see the pixel structure. The various perspectives from distance to close up are essential to understand the image. And while the scene itself may have been ominous and violent, the result is dreamy and enticing and suggests the more exalted visions of Romantic or Impressionist painting.