Project three research point-Ruff’s Jpeg
Ruff’s jpeg is seen as an exploration of the aesthetic of the pixel and a questioning of the jpeg image and what it represents. The images by Ruff in the series ‘jpeg’ are presented to stimulate a new view of the modern and archive based electronic medium of the digital photo. According to David Campany Ruff’s work ‘challenges us aesthetically and intellectually’(Campany D. 2008) However a counter view is offered by Joerg Colberg.
Screen shot of Ruff’s work
Colberg states that the work has no significance beyond the aesthetic or in other words the appreciation of composition, tonal qualities and form, shape and the use of space. (Colberg J. 2009) For him there is no deeper meaning to the image than what is seen.
The images of Ruff offer a view of the pixel. It is unusual to see the digital image used in this way. One point that is brought out is the common day use of found images. The searching and extracting out of archival work and then reworking it in order to make a statement is a practice amongst artists. It challenges the viewer to see anew something that they think that they have previously understood.
The attitude to the pixel is somewhat different from that which it formerly replaces through analogue photography, which is to say: grain. Grain had something of a prestigious quality to it and was aesthetically desirable in some images to augment the photo and was part of the visual language. The pixel has a somewhat different interpretation of being mechanised and even seen as a failing of the image.
Colberg reflects in his article: is beautiful sufficient? Campany believes that Ruff has introduced a philosophical element into the use of the pixel and opens up for question the nature of the digitally produced image.
Added May 2017
Below an example of a pixelated image of my own. The first thing to strike me is the abstraction that the image suddenly acquires. It goes from literal to abstract simply by reducing visual clarity in the image.
References
Campany D. Iann magazine No. 2, 2008,aesthetic of the pixel
Colberg J.April 17, 2009, conscientious
Source for photos:
Campany D. Iann magazine No. 2, 2008,aesthetic of the pixel
OCA log level 1 Photography 