Provenance
Galerie Mai 36, Zurich; Private Collection, New York
Literature
M. Winzen, Thomas Ruff 1979 to the Present, Cologne, 2001, p. 240, no. NUD 082 (illustrated); M. Houellebecq, Nudes, Berlin, 2003, p. 57 (illustrated)
Catalogue Essay
Around 1998 Thomas Ruff began to work on nude photography and also began experimenting with computer generated, abstract pictures made of pixels. Through his internet research into the genre of nude photography, he came across the field of pornography. Due to the poor resolution of these pictures on the World Wide Web, their pixel structure resembled the one he had been experimenting with. He decided to apply the same technique to the internet pictures, processing them so that the pixel structure was only just barely visible. He used fuzziness and other blurring techniques, occasionally modifying the colouring and removing intrusive details. The selection of source pictures was based on such considerations as composition, lighting, colouring, or representation.
'Thomas Ruff's nudes forcefully address the theme of our pre-rational curiosity about pornographic depictions, a curiosity that is only secondarily constrained by morals and conventions. Although in many ways the nudes are a consistent continuation of Ruff's previous series, as treatments of net pornography they still address an independent, complex, and clearly contemporary field of perception between body and eye, pre-reflexive curiosity and fetishistic fixation, physical excitement and mechanical prosthesis, secret desire and inconsequential anonymity, individual exhibitionism and the camera gaze that enlists and sexualizes the body.' (M. Winzen, A Credible Invention of Reality in Thomas Ruff: 1979 to the Present, Cologne, 2001, p. 151)

17

Thomas Ruff

Nude qaf06

2001
Chromogenic colour print mounted with Diasec face in the artist's wooden frame.
153 x 110 cm. (60 1/4 x 43 1/4 in).
Signed, dated 'Th Ruff 2001' and numbered of five on the reverse. This work is from an edition of five plus two artist's proofs.

Estimate
£30,000 - 40,000 ‡♠

Sold for £46,850

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

17 Oct 2009
London

1
Dan Walsh
Layout
Estimate £25,000 - 35,000 ‡
Sold for £30,000
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2
Elmgreen & Dragset
Marriage
Estimate £25,000 - 35,000 ‡♠
Sold for £55,250
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3
Jim Hodges
The Good News (De Morgen)
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £27,500
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4
Sterling Ruby
Monument Stalagmite/Recombine Black & Yellow
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000
Sold for £61,250
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5
Martin Kippenberger
Kippenblinky
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000
Sold for £103,250
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6
Martin Kippenberger
Big Until Great Hunger
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
Sold for £433,250
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7
Martin Kippenberger
Minimüllcontainer
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000
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8
Martin Kippenberger
Der Herr Joszi
Estimate £350,000 - 500,000
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9
Jonathan Meese
Napoleon
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡♠
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10
Cindy Sherman
Untitled #194
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £85,250
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11
Steven Parrino
Sin City Sag. Fuckhead Bubble-Gum
Estimate £300,000 - 400,000 ‡
Sold for £313,250
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12
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Year of the Boar
Estimate £900,000 - 1,200,000 ‡
Sold for £1,105,250
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13
Hermann Nitsch
Untitled
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ♠†
Sold for £45,650
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14
Jake and Dinos Chapman
The same thing only smaller, or the same size but a long way away
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 Ω♠
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15
Margherita Manzelli
Verifica del funzionamento - spazio vuoto
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡♠
Sold for £151,250
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16
Paul McCarthy
Untitled (from Propo-Series) (Peaches)
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
Sold for £51,650
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17
Thomas Ruff
Nude qaf06
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000 ‡♠
Sold for £46,850
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18
Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #8
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
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19
Michael Raedecker
Beam
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠†
Sold for £73,250
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20
Florian Maier-Aichen
Untitled (Saddle Peak)
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ♠†
Sold for £103,250
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21
Ugo Rondinone
all moments STOP here and together we become every memory that has ever been
Estimate £25,000 - 35,000 ‡
Sold for £37,250
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22
John McCracken
Actuate
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡
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23
Olafur Eliasson
Two Hot Air Columns
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 Ω♠
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24
John Armleder
Untitled
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000
Sold for £40,850
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25
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
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26
Dan Colen
Untitled (Bird Shit)
Estimate £25,000 - 35,000
Sold for £49,250
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27
Christopher Wool
Double Blue Nose (P422)
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £193,250
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28
Andy Warhol
Skull
Estimate £450,000 - 650,000 ‡
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29
On Kawara
APR. 8, 1978
Estimate £190,000 - 220,000 ‡
Sold for £205,250
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30
Lucio Fontana
Concetto Spaziale
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000
Sold for £241,250
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31
Günther Förg
Untitled
Estimate £25,000 - 35,000 ‡♠
Sold for £30,000
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32
Sergej Jensen
Untitled (Yin Yang)
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ♠
Sold for £34,850
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33
Franz West
Sculpture: Meeting Point 2, 2000; Painting: Plakatentwürf (Poster design) (Meeting Points), 2001
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000 ‡♠
Sold for £121,250
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34
Robert Rauschenberg
Rebundance
Estimate £180,000 - 220,000
Sold for £181,250
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35
John Armleder
Furniture Sculpture 230
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000 ‡
Sold for £46,850
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36
Wim Delvoye
Basket
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000 ‡♠
Sold for £39,650
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37
Francis Alÿs
Untitled
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
Sold for £57,650
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38
Tony Cragg
Blue Horn (Axt)
Estimate £80,000 - 100,000 ‡♠
Sold for £82,850
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39
Rosemarie Trockel
Ich kannte mich nicht aus
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ‡♠
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40
Franz West
Platform (2 Paßstücke)
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡♠
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41
Tony Cragg
Paysage Suisse (Swiss Landscape)
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000 ‡♠
Sold for £34,850
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42
Jitish Kallat
Suffix (Herbaceous Perennial) - 1
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
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43
Larry Poons
Cotherman
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ‡
Sold for £22,500
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44
Andreas Gursky
Flugzeug Düsseldorf
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ‡♠
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