Substrat, 2003/2019

Thomas Ruff’s work interrogates how photographic images are produced, circulated, and consumed in the digital era. The Substrat series, begun in 2001, represents one of Ruff´s most radical engagements with photography. Drawing on images appropriated from Japanese manga and science fiction, Ruff digitally processes and layers the source material until recognizable forms dissolve into vividly chromatic abstractions. The resulting surfaces—pulsating with saturated reds, blues, and greens—hover between the painterly and the photographic, challenging conventional expectations of the medium.