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: Josey, Norwich (upcoming, 2023), Forward, Union Pacific, London, United Kingdom (2019), ZERO, Svit, Prague, Czech Republic (2018) and NIMBYS, Zabriskie Point, Geneva, Switzerland (2017). Selected group exhibitions include: 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).

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

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