In association with the exhibition Beautiful Fictions: Photographic Art from the AGO featuring the Vivian and David Campbell Collection, Thomas Ruff will discuss his work in a public talk at the AGO’s Gallery School.

Thomas Ruff (born 1958, Zell am Harmersbach, Germany) has redefined photography's conceptual possibilities, simultaneously capturing and questioning the essence of photography as both a means and tool for visual experience. Best known for his deadpan portraits, commonplace interiors, colourful abstractions taken from the Internet of Japanese manga and anime, evocative nudes borrowed from pornographic websites, and deliberately pixilated enlargements of compressed JPEG files found online, Ruff has approached many familiar genres and proceeded to reinvent them. The artist's recent solo museum exhibitions include the Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy; Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg, Germany; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria; Mücsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest, Hungary (all 2009); Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany (all 2007). In 2006, Ruff received the Infinity Award for Art presented by the International Center of Photography, New York. His new work is currently on view at David Zwirner in New York. The artist lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.