“When photographers work with the raw digital file, it’s just a source to create their perfect work. In our digital darkroom we create material that doesn’t exist in the real world . . . and we build very complicated objects that you can’t manufacture by hand.”

—Thomas Ruff

Thomas Ruff’s Substrat series represents a conceptual idea that takes on layers of meaning throughout various disciplines. In Biochemistry, a ‘substrate’ refers to a molecule altered by an enzyme. In Linguistics, a ‘substratum’ refers to a part of a language that comes from an older, now extinct language. Geologically, a substrate refers to the layers within the earth’s crust. Collectively, these definitions highlight the concept of a substrate as a foundational layer that can be modified or transformed. 

Ruff’s Substrat series is created through a unique photographic process that bypasses the traditional use of a camera. He sources images of Japanese anime and manga from the internet and manipulates them into abstract color fields. Ruff’s innovative camera-less process is evocative of Man Ray’s Rayographs and Adam Fuss’s unique darkroom use, however Ruff’s images can be endlessly reproduced without the inconsistencies typically associated with manual printing processes.