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Ruff believes that photography can only capture the
surface of things, conveying what he describes as ‘the authenticity
of a manipulated and prearranged reality’. In 1981, he began
a series of colour portraits of his friends and fellow students
at the Düsseldorf Academy (where he studied under Bernd
Becher).
Each subject is framed like a passport photo, appearing
face-on and in profile, against a plain background. The portraits
resolutely refuse to provide any psychological insights into the
sitters, who wear unremarkable clothes, with a neutral expression.
In the late-1980s, Ruff began photographing ordinary
buildings in and around Düsseldorf. With few signs of human
presence, these precisely-detailed pictures are as enigmatic as
his portraits. Together, the two series suggest a cross-section
of the mundane surface of contemporary Germany. |
