Thomas Ruff Photograms and Negatives

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. 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.Negatives are a direct result of Ruff’s photogram process; the white and slate-blue images are inverted versions of early-twentieth-century nude studies.

Wenzel S. Spingler founded aplant, a 3-D rendering and animation studio. Spingler is currently Professor of Media Design at Fachhochschule Münster, University of Applied Sciences. Valeria Liebermann is a freelance curator of contemporary art for museums and exhibition spaces in Germany. She has published numerous essays on contemporary art and photography.