in online exhibition Thomas Ruff and Jörg Schellmann – 35 Years
Negatives II, 2016
Digital pigment print, on rag paper, 70 x 100 cm (25½ x 39½ in). Edition of 40, signed and numbered on verso.
Negatives II is the second edition, in which Thomas Ruff combined images from his Negatives series into a composition. As with the first, it brings together digitally inverted historical photographs – here featuring botanical studies, a reclining nude, a regal portrait, a fighter jet, and a floral still life. Ruff’s transformation of these archival images into cool, cyan-toned “digital negatives” invites viewers to reconsider the photographic negative as an autonomous visual form. By merging scientific, artistic, and ethnographic imagery, the composition highlights the breadth of photography’s historical applications – while foregrounding the material qualities and overlooked aesthetic of the negative itself.
