Thomas Ruff’s Jpegs photobook comprises of multiple series of photographs, many of which he has taken from the internet, in which he then enlarges to such an extent that the pixels become distorted patterns of colour.

Joerg Colberg on visiting the exhibition of Thomas Ruff’s work at the Zwirner gallery, commented that “For me, seeing them in the Zwirner gallery setting where, well, there was a whiff of things being just a tad too pretentious” (jmcolberg.com 2009) leads you to beg the question, “Is it really a photograph or a form of art? “

Colberg goes on to mention “The tremendous beauty of some of the images notwithstanding, the concept itself seems to rely a bit too much on the technique itself” (jmcolberg.com 2009) again posing the question to the viewer “Is there more to this work? Is there a deeper meaning, or is it merely an image taken from the internet and manipulated?”

David Campany commented on the way many artists since the 1920’s have worked with ‘found images in different ways’ and that “All photographic images come from archives….the family album, the picture library, the computer image file, the press agency and even the modern art gallery” (David Campanay, 2008)

Campany goes on to mention ‘The effect is to simultaneously emphasise and de-emphasise whatever is specific about his chosen photograph” and that “Ruff has done a great deal to introduce the photographic art what we might call an ‘art of the pixel’, allowing us to contemplate at an aesthetic and philosophical level the basic condition of the electronic image” (David Campanay, 2008)

I feel that the enlargement of his photographs gives them an almost oil painting type quality, with each pixel square acting like a brush stroke.

In the image above, you can tell instantly where this photograph was taken. Most people over 15 years old can tell you exactly what they were doing on that day. I can. But with the photograph enlarged to such an extent that the majority of the detail is lost, you still have to take a second look to make sure the scene is what you think it is.

Below is an image of the World Trade Centre taken earlier this year (in auto mode) which I have saved in photoshop using their ‘save for web’ feature.

I don’t think it gives as near a pixelation differential as Thomas Ruff manages to gain in his photographs, but its still very low quality and has distorted the photograph from its original.