Thomas Ruff's 'Object Relations' Exhibition at Art Gallery of Ontario Explores Photographic Manipulation

From April 21 to August 2, 2016, the Art Gallery of Ontario presented 'Thomas Ruff: Object Relations' at 317 Dundas Street West in Toronto, Canada. The exhibition featured multiple series by the German photographer, including his press++ (2015) prints made from manipulated newspaper clippings. Ruff created the Negative (2014–ongoing) series specifically for the museum by inverting historical photographs from their collection. Other works displayed included the Sterne (1989–92) series using astronomical negatives from the European Southern Observatory in Chile and the Maschinen (2003) series featuring 1930s German product photography. The exhibition juxtaposed Ruff's work with historical photographs from his personal collection, including Bowers and Lough's 1909 gelatin silver print 'Electrocardiograms' and Lucien Walery's 1923 photogravures from 'Nus'. Also shown were Arthur Siegel's 1944 photograms. The curation connected these diverse works through themes of photographic inversion, surface manipulation, and the tension between image and context. Ruff's process involved altering found materials to remove extraneous information, creating what the exhibition described as a 'close relationship between functional and artistic photography.' The show followed Ruff's previous exhibition at David Zwirner in New York earlier that year.