On the occasion of Aperture’s release of The Düsseldorf School of Photography, a comprehensive assessment of the influential photography movement, Aperture and the photography department in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design presented artist Thomas Ruff and writer, former picture editor, Philip Gefter, on February 12th at Aperture Gallery and Bookstore.

The artist’s talk focuses on Ruff’s early work and participation in the Düsseldorf School as well as his more recent work including images featured in the artist’s JPEGS monograph.

In this clip, Thomas Ruff goes through several key bodies of work following his professor Bernd Becher’s advice to always reflect on the photographic medium. Ruff speaks about his Portrait series which he started at the Düsseldorf Academy and explains how large scale has emancipated photography on the contemporary art scene in the 1980′s. Ruff also touches on the matter of objectivity versus subjectivity as well as on the notion of authorship with his Stars series. Finally when speaking of Jpegs, he focuses on the structure of images he finds on the internet and their distribution. By enlarging them, Ruff also plays with the perception of these images when the pixel patterns become sublime geometric displays of color.

To watch the full talk click here:

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Copyright Thomas Ruff

Aperture Presents: An Exclusive Conversation Between Thomas Ruff and Philip Gefter

Aperture and the photography department in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design will be presenting an exclusive conversation between artist Thomas Ruff and writer, former picture editor, and author of Photography After Frank, Philip Gefter, on Friday, February 12th, 2010.

The event will in-part celebrate Aperture’s publication of Thomas Ruff’s monograph JPEGS as well as the release of Aperture’s The Dusseldorf School of Photography, a survey of the influential photography movement that includes Ruff’s work.

The conversation will focus on Ruff’s relationship to his JPEGS series and his newest work in two series: zycles and cassini on view at David Zwirner Gallery. There will be a book signing with both speakers following the event.

Thomas Ruff and Philip Gefter in Conversation plus Book Signing
Friday, February 12, 6:30pm

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th floor
New York, New York

Due to limited capacity, this free event is RSVP-only.
Please send name to reserve at: RSVP@aperture.org

View Thomas Ruff’s JPEGS

View Philip Gefter’s Photography After Frank