Thomas Ruff
dal 18/4/2014 al 30/5/2014
Segnalato da
18/4/2014
Thomas Ruff
Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills
Photograms and Negatives. In his new work, he engages with the photogram, collaborating with a 3-D imaging expert to design a virtual darkroom that would enable him to experiment with an infinite range of forms.
When you make photograms, without the use of a camera, you can indeed call that abstract
photography, as the lens and the corresponding registration medium are lacking. No longer do you
have pictures of reality or objects; you only have their shadows. It is a bit like Plato’s cave, where one
could only imagine reality; the objects themselves were not visible.
—Thomas Ruff
Gagosian Beverly Hills is pleased to present an exhibition of recent work by Thomas Ruff.
Thomas Ruff is acknowledged as a leading innovator in the generation of German artists that
propelled photography into mainstream art. For more than two decades, he has pushed the limits of
the photographic medium, harnessing technologies both old and new—including night vision, hand-
tinting, and stereoscopy. Open and explorative, he has produced new takes on conventions in
architectural, astrological, pornographic, and portrait photography. In his new work, he engages with
the photogram, the cameraless technique advanced by Man Ray, László Moholy-Nagy, and others in
the early twentieth century.
Traditionally, photograms are made by placing objects onto photosensitive paper and exposing the
paper to light, thereby recording the silhouettes of the objects. Captivated by this method but seeking
to work beyond its limitations, Ruff collaborated with a 3-D imaging expert to design a virtual
darkroom that would enable him to experiment with an infinite range of forms. Unbeholden to objects
present, like the scissors, ribbons, and paperclips of Moholy-Nagy’s photograms, he is able to specify
the size, material, color, and transparency of new digital matter. This collection of invented forms,
together with simulated paper surface and fully adjustable light conditions, comprises a digital
darkroom environment in which Ruff can access boundless possibilities and ultimate control. The final
chromogenic prints describe an enigmatic photographic world of nebulous shadows, spheres, zigzags,
and hard edges against richly colored backgrounds, a mesmerizing visual frontier of his own making.
Negatives are a direct result of Ruff’s photogram process, during which he has constantly explored
the dynamics of positive and negative imagery. The white and slate-blue images are inverted versions
of early-twentieth-century nude studies. Reversing the negative’s role as a means to an end—the
master image from which the print is created—Ruff digitally transforms sepia-toned albumen prints
into dramatically contrasting negative portraits, imbuing the posing nude subjects with sculptural
dimensionality and white marble skin tones. Exploring historic techniques with a consistently inventive
approach, Ruff continues to expand the subjects, possibilities, and appearance of photographs.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue including a conversation between
Thomas Ruff, Wenzel S. Spingler, and Valeria Liebermann.
Thomas Ruff was born in 1958 in Zell am Harmersbach, Germany. He studied at the Staatlichen
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf beginning in 1977, and was a professor there from 2000 to 2006. Public
collections include Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York;
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington,
D.C.; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Tate Gallery,
London; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; and
Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin. Recent solo exhibitions include Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2007);
Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2009); Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg, Germany (2009); Castello di Rivoli,
Turin (2009); “MCA DNA: Thomas Ruff,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2011); Centro de
Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Spain (2011); “Thomas Ruff: Works 1979–2011,” Haus der Kunst,
Munich (2012); and Sala Alcalá 31, Madrid (2013).
Ruff lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Image: THOMAS RUFF, r.phg.06, 2014. Chromogenic print, 94 1/2 x 72 7/8 inches (240 x 185 cm). Ed. of 4
For further information please contact Alexandra Magnuson at alex@gagosian.com or at
+1.310.271.9400. All images are subject to copyright. Gallery approval must be granted prior to
reproduction.
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Opening reception: Saturday, April 19th, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Gagosian Gallery
456 North Camden Drive - Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Hours: Tue–Sat 10-6