Thomas Ruff: new work

In the organizer's words:

The two latest series "d.o.pe." and "untitled#" by Thomas Ruff are part of the "new work" exhibition at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle. The abstract pictorial worlds of these groups of works were created using two very different technical approaches over the past two years.

For "d.o.pe." Thomas Ruff used computer software to generate psychedelic-looking images that create an enormous suction effect through fractal patterns in rich colors. The title goes back to the autobiographical essay "The doors of perception" by Aldous Huxley from the 1950s, in which he describes his experiences of perception after taking mescaline as a mind-expanding substance. The fractal is a self-similar structure that was first described as such by the mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot in the 1970s and was introduced as a term in mathematics. A fractal can be divided infinitely in the same form and thus sometimes takes on spiral-like shapes. In nature, such structures can be found in crystals or Romanesco broccoli, for example. The fractal structure is also known as a dimension. Mandelbrot succeeded in making this structure recognizable with the help of early computer representations. In his "d.o.pe." series, Thomas Ruff cleverly combines these two phenomena with the latest software programs from the 2020s, allowing us to immerse ourselves in seemingly endless dimensions in which the color only takes on its three-dimensional effect through the image carrier. The artificially generated images are printed on velour carpets for the first time in Thomas Ruff's work. The velvety surface of the fabric enhances the perception of depth in these fascinating pictorial worlds.

The "untitled#" series was created at the same time. For this, Ruff suspended wire structures from the ceiling on a nylon cord in front of a black background and captured the traces of light created by the uncontrollable pendulum movements in photographs. As is so often the case, the artist was inspired to create these light experiments by studying the history of photography. In the 1950s and 1960s, Peter Keetman and Heinrich Heidersberger with their rhythmograms and Etienne Bertrand Weill with his "Metaforms" used photography in an experimental way to create abstract images from light and shadow. Thomas Ruff wanted to get to the bottom of this technique and, as with the "Flower.s" series, used his own camera again after a long break. The "untitled#" series has a similarly mysterious effect to the "d.o.pe." series. The sweeping forms and movements take over the picture plane, Thomas Ruff offers them the stage.

Thomas Ruff (*1958 in Zell am Harmersbach) is an established international figure in photographic art. Starting out as one of the first representatives of Bernd and Hilla Becher's class at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art in the 1980s, his works are now a fixture in any established photography collection. Serial work has accompanied his oeuvre for over 40 years. Through his technical inventiveness, he always succeeds in creating a new context for the medium itself and repeatedly shows us the discrepancy between the latest technology and old viewing habits. A large-scale survey exhibition of his works was last shown at the Musee d'art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Étienne Métropole (MAMC) in France in 2022.