THOMAS RUFF, Gloire au grand Jacques Chirac / Glory to the great Jacques Chirac, 1998
29,9 x 22,4 cm
photographic print, original cardboard envelope
signed, dated, numbered
edition 100 + 20 AP
published by Texte zur Kunst, Berlin, Germany
mint
€ 485,- plus € 15,- Track & Trace registered EU mail

 
In 1998 Jacques Chirac being president of France is as head of the state also responsible for Foreign Affairs. He lifted his hand and nuclear tests were given free way. Thomas Ruff shows airplanes that start to lift off, human bodies as tools are scattered around. He takes the photographic collage as a means to criticize political structures à la Dada artist John Heartfield.

There is a theory on mirroring texts that create an extra moment of contemplation between what is shown in the image and told in the text. Here, textual parts are used for getting such a division between looking and reading, apparently.

History of prices:
Dobiaschofsky Auktionen, Bern, Switzerland 7 November 2024 SFr. 600,- (hammer price)
SBI Art Auction, Tokyo, Japan 19 April 2014 € 636,- (hammer price)

Additional information
In 1996 Thomas Ruff started his series “Plakate” apparently inspired by the posters of John Heartfield and Russian Avant-garde artists in the twenties and thirties. He made six photographic collage posters on politics of the late nineties.