Aperture and the photography programs in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design are honored to present an exclusive conversation between Thomas Ruff—one of the most important photographers to emerge in the last fifteen years, as well as amongst the most enigmatic and prolific of Bernd and Hilla Becher’s former students—and Philip Gefter, former New York Times writer and picture editor, and author of Photography After Frank, Aperture’s recently published collection of insightful essays on contemporary photography.  The conversation will be followed by book signings with Thomas Ruff (Jpegs and The Dusseldorf School of Photography) and Philip Gefter (Photography After Frank)

This conversation will take place on the occasion of the opening of Ruff’s exhibition of new work on view at David Zwirner February 11–March 13, 2010, and celebrates the recent releases of his Aperture books Jpegs and The Dusseldorf School of Photography, an unprecedented survey of the breadth of this important movement (which includes Ruff’s work). This conversation will focus on Ruff’s relationship to his monumental Jpegs series, in which he explores the distribution and reception of images in the digital age, his most recent body of work, and his place within the Dusseldorf School.

Thomas Ruff (born in Zell am Harmersbach, Germany, 1958) has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout Europe, Asia, and North America, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; and Kunst-Werke, Berlin. He is the 2006 recipient of the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award.

Philip Gefter was on staff at the New York Times for more than fifteen years, where his roles included page one picture editor and senior picture editor for culture. Early in his career, Gefter was a picture editor at Fortune and an assistant editor at Aperture. He writes regularly about photography for The Daily Beast, the Times and other publications. His book of essays, Photography After Frank, was recently published by Aperture. He is currently producing a feature-length documentary on Bill Cunningham of the Times, working on a biography of Sam Wagstaff and is guest curator for the exhibition Downtown Pix, now on view at The Grey Art Gallery through April 3, 2010.

WHEN AND WHERE:
Friday, February 12, 6:30 pm
Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th floor
New York, New York
212-505-5555

Due to limited capacity, this free event is RSVP-only.
Please send name to reserve at: RSVP@aperture.org

Regular hours: Monday–Saturday: 10:00 am–6:00 pm; Sunday: closed

For more information, please contact:
Andrea Smith, Director of Communications, (212) 946-7111, asmith@aperture.org

©Thomas Ruff, jpeg nt0

©Thomas Ruff, Portrait (C. + S. Kewer), 1987