The present work belongs to Ruff's untitled# series of abstract photographs, begun in 2022. These images were inspired by the work of Etienne Bertrand Weill, the pioneering French photographer best known for his Metaforms—which photographically recorded the movement of mobiles that the artist assembled from materials such as glass, wire, and wood; as well as by the rhythmograms—complex light patterns that visualize time and motion—created by Peter Keetman and Heinrich Heidersberger in the 1950s and 1960s.
To create his works, Ruff photographed a silver coil as it rotated in front of a black background using a long exposure to capture the motion. The artist then digitally edited the images, applying a blue halo effect to the edges of the photographs to mimic the appearance of vintage photography. He continued to photograph various wire constructions in his studio in this way resulting in a body of abstract imagery that evokes light itself as its subject matter. In referring back to experimental techniques from the mid-twentieth century, Ruff raises broader questions about what constitutes a photographic image. As such, this series continues his interest in exploring the limits of photographic representation, reinventing in the process many of its familiar genres.
