Thomas Ruff talks to Ben Luke about his influences—from writers to musicians, film-makers and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work.
Ruff was born in 1958 in Zell am Harmersbach, in what was then West Germany, and has, over five decades, extensively probed the forms and possibilities of photography. Though he is a key figure in the international generation of artists that emerged in the 1980s and experimented with the very nature of the photographic medium and discipline, Ruff has carved out a singular practice. He works in distinct series whose formal characteristics vary enormously, but are underpinned by experimental unorthodoxy, technical curiosity and conceptual rigour. Each new group contributes to a profound philosophical exploration of the photographic image and what it means to make a picture. But while the intellectual underpinning of his work is unwavering, Ruff makes prints that are remarkably beautiful objects.
tripe_06 Pugahm Myo. Thapinyu Pagoda., 2018. Chromogenic print
Courtesy of David Zwirner
Operating in a medium that remains associated with the factual record and documentary, he has relentlessly made the case for a photographic practice in which imagination is a primary agent. He discusses his interest in “the puzzle of photography”, the distinctive geneses of his various series of work, and his conviction that while seeking an “intellectually high-end product… of course I want to have fun”. He reflects on the early influence of the photographer Ernst Haas, how Piero della Francesca influenced his early Portraits series, how he chose to study art over astronomy, yet outer space has remained a core concern in his work, and how the satirical television show Spitting Image proved an unlikely influence.
Of course, he reflects on the work of numerous photographers, from Eugène Atget and Walker Evans to Lou Landauer and his teachers in Düsseldorf, Bernd and Hilla Becher. Plus, he answers our usual questions, including the ultimate, “What is art for?”
Thomas Ruff: expériences lumineuses at David Zwirner, London, 30 January–22 March, 2025
Courtesy David Zwirner
Thomas Ruff: expériences lumineuses, David Zwirner, London, until 22 March; his work features in Typologien, a survey of 20th-century German photography at Fondazione Prada, Milan, 3 April-14 July.
This podcast is sponsored by Bloomberg Connects, the arts and culture app.
The free app offers access to a vast range of international cultural organisations through a single download, with new guides being added regularly. They include several museums in which Thomas Ruff has had solo presentations, from the Museum of Modern Art in New York to the Whitechapel Gallery and National Portrait Gallery in London. If you download Bloomberg Connects you’ll find that the guide to the National Portrait Gallery has features on its past, present and future exhibitions, and four Gallery Tours in which you can learn about the gallery’s collection in depth. Among the tours are Meet the Portraits, with audio and video content about 16 works across the span of the museum’s holdings, from the Ditchley Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, made in 1592, to Reaching Out, a contemporary sculpture made by a former guest on A brush with…, Thomas Price.