Utopia Editions is pleased to offer a portfolio of four new works by Thomas Ruff, co-published with Edition Schellmann, related to his d.o.pe. series (2022), which debuted at David Zwirner New York last year. Featuring fractal patterns that the artist generates with a specialized software program, these digital pigment prints foreground Ruff's ongoing pursuit of the visual expression of the beauty of mathematics. Formally, these motifs recall the psychedelic art and imagery prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s.
The title of this body of work references Aldous Huxley’s autobiographical volume The Doors of Perception, published in 1954. With this series, Ruff extends his ongoing exploration of human perception and his interest in creating digital imagery that, while artificially constructed, appears naturally derived. Ruff has previously collaborated with Schellmann to create editions related to his major bodies of work, which the artist considers to be distinct from his photographic practice, as it allows him to privilege the materiality of these more intimately scaled compositions.
Throughout his work, Ruff has explored new technology with a focus on the evolution of photography. This online presentation features images generated from AI program Midjourney to create a selection of imagined interiors based on decade-specific prompts — such as a 1970s living room that relates to the psychedelic aesthetic of this body of work.
