Publisher/Prestel

Google翻訳
This is a collection of works by German photographer Thomas Ruff (1958-). A student of Bernd and Hilla Becher, Ruff is known as an important figure of the Düsseldorf School, alongside Andreas Gursky and Thomas Struth. He has consistently grappled with the fundamental question of "what is photography?". Even after establishing international recognition with his large-format portraits in the 1980s, his interest shifted from the subject matter itself to the structure of the photographic medium, pioneering explorations of how images change with digitalization and the spread of the internet. This book is a monograph primarily compiling his representative works from the 2000s onward, including "nudes," which reconstructs internet images; "jpegs," which amplifies the noise in compressed images; "ma.rs," which uses NASA astronomical images; and "tableaux chinois," a reinterpretation of Chinese propaganda photography. Incorporating diverse visual materials, from 19th-century photography to photojournalism, space photography, and computer-generated images, he re-examines the history and technology of photography, reproduction and distribution, and the reliability of images in the digital age. This book offers an overview of the thinking behind Ruff, who has expanded the possibilities of contemporary photography.