Thomas Ruff

Here I am photographed in front of a wall next to my work, which doesn't appear. The idea for the images in the Biennale was to create an abstract and realistic piece at the same time. If you look at the images from a faraway distance, you think you are looking at very precise photographs. If you then come closer the abstraction starts at about five meters viewing distance. If you go very close you cannot recognize anything anymore. You only see thousands of pixels. The work is very much about perception and how the distribution of images and information via the Internet changes our relation to the real world. It is an ongoing series that I showed for the first time at David Zwirner Gallery in New York in March 2005. The latest of these images are at the Biennale.