Thomas Ruff

Thomas Ruff was born in Zell am Harmersbach in 1958. While studying from 1977 to 1985 in Bernd and Hilla Becher’s class at Düsseldorf’s art academy, he began to capture everyday interiors in photo series and larger-than-life portraits en face. Along with Höfer, Sasse, Struth and Gursky, he belongs to the Düsseldorf school of photography, which grew out of the Bechers’ class and stands for conceptual photography. He showed his works in a first solo exhibition in Munich as early as 1981. In 1992 Ruff participated in documenta 9, and in 1995 he was represented at the 46th Venice Biennale. From 2000 to 2006 Ruff was appointed a professor at the Düsseldorf Academy as a successor to Bernd and Hilla Becher. Neutral objectivity and a search for the exemplary characterise his works; in them he employs digital editing methods. Some groups of works are based on technological advances like military night vision devices. Thomas Ruff lives and works in Düsseldorf.