Max Ruf
Max Ruf (b. 1982, Germany) lives and works in Berlin and Lisbon. The artist’s paintings correspond to a landscape which is both natural and artificial; symbolic and physical. The tensions between these qualities merge with the material plasticity of paint to articulate an experiential reification of visual and sensorial experience.
Ruf holds a master’s degree in painting from the Royal College of Art, London. Selected solo exhibitions include: Max Ruf, The Wig, Berlin, Germany (2022), (Time), Nuno Centeno, Porto, Portgual (2022), Volumen und Kapazität, die Treppe, Basel, Switzerland (2021), RADIO, Figura Avulsa, Lisbon, Portugal (2020), Forward, Union Pacific, London, United Kingdom (2019), ZERO, Svit, Prague, Czech Republic (2018) and NIMBYS, Zabriskie Point, Geneva, Switzerland (2017). Selected group exhibitions include: I Know What To Do, But I Do Not Know What I Do, Does, Galleri Opdahl, Stavanger, Norway (2024), Kinetic Mugger, Stooge Fine Arts, Berlin (2024), Ruf/Simon, Lo Brutto Stahl, Paris, France (2024), Terminus, Spencer Brownstone, New York, NY, USA (2023), Nuno Centeno, Porto, Portugal (2022), Architektura, Fuhrwerkswaage, Cologne, Germa (2021), and Gestaltung der Zukunft, Arp Museum, Bonn, Germany (2019).
untitled (green drawing, red dots), 2023, oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm
untitled (green over beige, white frame), 2024, oil on canvas, 90 x 60 cm
untitled (six black rectangles on white, yellow and blue; red lines, black lines, green), 2023, oil on canvas, 195 x 140 cm
untitled (green dots, white lines, blue lines, grey), 2022-2024, oil on linen, 190 x 220 cm
Volumen und Kapazität (installation view), 2021, die Treppe, Basel
Volumen und Kapazität, 2021, oil on canvas, 130 x 230 cm
Untitled (imprint I, green on white, red), 2020, oil on canvas, 90 x 55 cm
Untitled (green lines, yellow, white wash, property), 2018, oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm
A room, two rooms (installation view), 2020, Kunsthalle Freeport, Porto
Untitled (blue lines, phthalo green, red wash, white), 2016-2019, oil on canvas, 245 x 135 cm
Forward (installation view), 2019, Union Pacific
Untitled (red shape, red field, dark background), 2018, oil on canvas, 80 x 120 cm
Allergische Instrumente (Installation view featuring Philip Simon), 2019, Liszt, Berlin
Zero (installation view), 2018, Svit, Prague
Zero (installation view), 2018, Svit, Prague
Untitled (green horse, green background, vertical), 2017, oil on canvas,130 x 230 cm
Board II, 2016, pencil, colour pencil and felt pen on paper, tape, fabric, 250 x 165 cm
Phthalo Green (installation view), 2015, Union Pacific
Untitled (prussian blue, blues, greens, three grey fields), 2015, oil on canvas, 300 × 140 cm
Stadt installation view, 2016, oil on canvas, Murias Centeno, Lisbon
Untitled ( green lines and old english red, on grey, black and yellow ), 2016, oil on canvas, 134 x 245 cm
untitled (red and black dots on white), 2024, oil on linen, 230 x 200 cm
(white dots on green lines, blue, old english red, green, black), 2021-24, oil on canvas, 230 x 200 cm
untitled (three arches, four black dots), 2023, oil on canvas, 90 x 60 cm
Volumen und Kapazität (installation view), 2021, die Treppe, Basel
Volumen und Kapazität, 2021, oil on canvas 130 x 230 cm
Untitled, 2020, oil on canvas and oil on linen, 210 x 102 cm
A Room, Two Rooms (installation view), Kunsthalle Freeport, Porto, 2020
Untitled (green, four green points, composition), 2020, oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm
Untitled (transparent green lines, blue, two figures, horizontal), 2019, oil on canvas, 230 x 130 cm
Forward (installation view), 2019, Union Pacific
Untitled (red shape, red field, dark background), 2018, oil on canvas, 80 x 120 cm
Untitled (three horizontal lines, two red figures, green), 2019, oil on canvas, 90 x 60 cm
Untitled (transparent yellow), 2018, oil on canvas, 130 x 230 cm
Zero (installation view), 2018, Svit, Prague
Untitled (black field, red field, blue lines, green, white), 2017, oil on canvas, 134 x 195 cm
Toujours, 2016, Parkhaus, Kunstverein im Malkastenpark, Düsseldorf (Featured with Jan Kiefer)
Board III, 2016, pencil, colour pencil and felt pen on paper, tape, fabric, 250 x 165 cm
Phthalo Green (installation view), 2015, Union Pacific
Haus 8 (installation view), 2015, Union Pacific, London
Postcodes (soft) installation view, 2015, Casa do Povo, Sao Paulo
(curated by Gabriel Lima and Pedro Wirz; with Erika Verzutti, Pedro Neves Marques and Emanuel Rohss)
White Shining Statue, 2013, bronze, 34 x 52 cm