The exhibition in the Haus der Kunst is the first comprehensive presentation of the works of the German photographer Thomas Ruff in over ten years. Ruff, who comes from the famous Bernd and Hilla Becher School, lives and works in Düsseldorf. The exhibition shows groups of work from the 1980s, from which the artist achieved international fame: as his series of interiors and portraits. Ruff edited the views of the buildings digitally to remove obstructing details. The oversize, passport-style portraits, which depict persons from Ruff’s environment with emotionless expressions, impress with their format and the meticulous surface depiction. The artist’s current series is also very remarkable which shows the surface of Mars. Ruff edited the images, which he took from photographs from NASA, so that the observer views the landscape as from an airplane window.
Exhibition duration: February 17th – May 20th, 2012, Haus der Kunst Munich