134 DIGITAL CAMERA^ AUGUST 2019 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
INTERVIEWSometimes Ruud’s outlook is organised,
light and beautiful, sometimes chaotic,
alluring, appealing, then swerving to dark
and threatening. “In the last room, the
Belvedere exhibition shows the course to
abstraction, a total of five new series of work
that were made between 2015 and 2018.”
Ruud lives and work in Amsterdam, and
as we talk to him he vaguely tells us that he’s
experimenting, “trying out new things I have
not done before”. He began his studies at an
art academy in the Netherlands, but “chose
photography because of the possibilities that
came with computers and their software”.
Ruud uses Photoshop to utterly transform
reality and nature to his own vision. For these
pieces, he scoured his vast library of digital
fabrics and foliage, leaves and plants to create
dream-like photographic collages – utopias,
but where nothing is exactly as it seems.Above: Floresta
Negra #5.Above right:
Voyage Pittoresque #1.Opposite: Floresta #4.Ruud wanted to ponder the themes of beauty
and the pastoral through his trademark use
of composites. “The presentation at Huxley-
Parlour Gallery is a selection of works that
are also in my latest exhibition at Museum
Belvedere in the Netherlands,” he explains.
Making Nature (the name of the overseas
exhibition) consists of around 30 images
that all explore the same theme. “No people
can be found in these bodies of work, no
portraits... Only the nature that I explore
and display in my way and outlook.”