THOMAS RUFF

Works
Texts
About

02

Porträts

1986-1991,1998
At first glance, these portraits have the appearance of ordinary ID photographs. But when we stand in front of the works, enlarged to a massive degree (210 x 165cm), they create a completely different impression. The fact that ordinary portrait photographs take on such a puzzling, mysterious quality suggests that the photographic medium is equipped with a unique mechanism. These early works, which helped establish Ruff’s name, use a simple approach to raise a variety of questions. The series was also a forerunner in the use of the large color print, which went on to be a standard format in contemporary photography.