Negatives I, 2016

This edition by Thomas Ruff is one of two compositions made from images of his Negatives series, in which he explores the visual and conceptual potential of the photographic negative. Composed of six digitally inverted historical photographs, the edition brings together diverse subjects – from portraiture and the nude to still life and technology – highlighting the broad scope of Ruff’s engagement with analog source material. Since 2014, Ruff has been digitally reworking albumin prints from the 19th and early 20th centuries, transforming them into striking blue-toned “digital negatives”. In doing so, he draws attention to the negative as a rarely considered object of aesthetic value – once merely a means to an end, now reclaimed as a visual artifact in its own right.