Product Description

Jane Charlotte has been arrested for murder.

Customer Reviews (72)

Need to read it twice!
Whenever I finish a book, and immediately turn back to page 1 to figure out how I could have missed certain things, or how the author could have convinced me of something, I KNOW it's a terrific book."Bad Monkeys" fits the bill.It's fast-paced, fun, and full of moral/ethical dilemmas that really aren't so obvious after all.In a nutshell, human nature.

Matt Ruff's Bad Monkeys? Far from perfect, but enjoyable nonetheless!
Enter the world of Jane Charlotte, a mid-thirty washed-up girl from California who is locked up in a white room, in the "nut wing" of Las Vegas' Clark County Detention Center. She is sitting handcuffed at a table. "A man in a white coat", Dr. Richard Vale is interviewing her. It's June 5th, 2002, post 9/11 America. Jane, apparently, killed someone. Someone, she says, she was not supposed to kill. If that was not bad enough, when the police arrested her, she confessed that she works for "The Department for the Final Disposition of Irredeemable Persons", or, for short, the "Bad Monkeys". The Bad Monkeys is a division of a secret organization devoted to fight evil. In other words, Jane kills people who do Evil not as a mean to a particular end (i.e. money, power); but because they are, simply, evil. Mostly, these are paedophiles, rapists, and psycho killers.

Dr. Vale is trying to find out whether or not she is crazy, and so are we, the readers of Matt Ruff's fourth novel Bad Monkeys. Will Dr. Vale succeed in his task? Will we succeed? At the end of the book, albeit quite disappointed by the rushed-off ending that throws in one more, probably unnecessary, plot-twist, I found myself thinking: does it really matter? Maybe not. The ride was fun, that is all that matters when you read a book like this.

Throughout the book we follow Jane's recount of how she ended up in Vegas: she starts from her first meeting with the Organization - when she was 14 and was instructed to kill a janitor (who had a penchant for kidnapping, raping and killing little boys). She kills him with a NC Gun, an orange look-alike-toy-gun that kills people by causing them to die of natural causes, i.e. by cardiac arrest. 200 pages or so later we end up in Sin City. Meanwhile 23 years have passed. Jane's hectic, fuzzy and often hilarious style brings us through a maze of impossible twists (far too many I must add), improbable characters, and far-fetched conspiracy theories. We meet serial killers, scary clowns, ants farm, flying Axes, and psychos that take super secret drugs that allow them to disappear and fly. Her story is often inconsistent with the reality of the historical facts, or rather implausible, as Dr. Vale points out here and there. Jane shudders the discrepancies off for they are (often) proof of the Organization's power to alter the facts. She describes the world we live in as the stage where the battle between Good and Evil takes places on a daily basis. She is one of the players of this battle, albeit not the most important one. But there are neither angels, nor devils in this crime-science-fiction-fantasy-twisted novel. No religion for all that matters. We learn, quite too late in the novel, that there are two organizations: one called simply The Organization and one called The Troop, the former devoted to do evil and run havoc in the world, the latter instead tries to get rid of evil doers and stop the Troop.

Reading Bad Monkeys one has the impression that Matt Ruff enjoys sidetracking his readers, sometimes, however, I caught myself thinking that the writer did not really know where he was going and for what purpose. Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed the bumpy ride. At one point it seems clear to the reader that Jane is a classic case of schizophrenia, even split personality. Ruff points us towards that direction and Dr. Vale calm and reassuring voice picking up inconsistencies in Jane's story and revealing parts of that story that Jane withheld from us help us, the readers, confirm that impression: this girl is definitely a nutcase who popped one too many pills, tried one too many drugs and finally lost track of reality while trying to cope with the guilt of an unforgivable sin she perpetrated in her early teens. That is certainly one, plausible, way to read Jane Charlotte's story. But then the end comes, and we wonder: was she really crazy? In fact, as soon as we think we got hold of the story, and lose some interest in it - at least I did - Ruff turns Jane's tale upside down (literally) and we found ourselves one more time wondering: what is it? And who is Jane Charlotte? Where are we? What is this all about? Is this a crime fiction with psychological twist? Is it in fact a crazy sci-fi story?

The story - as the author acknowledges at the end of the book - is indebted to the likes of Philip K. Dick. The Killer Inside Me (a 1952 novel by American writer Jim Thompson) seems another likely inspiration of Ruff's story. Here and there it reminded me of Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys, especially of Bruce Willis's talking with Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe). True, the word monkeys in the title apart, the two stories are quire different, but they share someimportantsimilarities: in both plots the main characters (Bruce Willis and Jane Charlotte) are believed to be crazy. They both use public telephones to talk to their organization. They are both paranoid, maybe they are crazy or, maybe, their paranoia is the result of what they know about reality, something that we - the normal people living in the normal world - are not aware of. Well , from the start, we, the audience, know Willis is not crazy, he simply comes from the future, it is only the people in the present time that have a hard time believing him. And Jane? Well with her it is more complicated. Both we the readers and often her co-characters are left wondering. It would not be too far fetched to say that, at times, Bad Monkeys even reads like The Matrix and Pulp Fiction blended together.

Matt Ruff clearly enjoys mixing genres and playing around with clichés. This is a sign of courage and inventiveness that deserves praise; yet, such style/tactic seems to backfire here and there in the book, especially in the unsatisfactory finale. The book is by no means perfect and the ending is perhaps its weakest part. The last three chapters could have used a some extra rewriting.It is perfectly understandable that following the rambling thoughts of a mad person should throw the reader into deep confusion, butthen Ruff tries hard to push us to question that assumption: are we really sure that Jane is crazy? Well, I can even understand that line of thinking, but did we really need another plot-twist at the very end of the book that changes everything? I am not sure. And I am even less sure it works the way Ruff intended it to work. Without revealing too much about the end, Bad Monkeys' final chapter has something that reminded me of the end of The Usual Suspects. As far as I remember, I found the final revelation in Brian Singer's movie not entirely satisfactory - Roger 'Verbal' Kint (Kevin Spacey's character) withholds facts from the viewers and we only realise that at the end when the detective realises his own mistake - nevertheless the twist works and it seems plausible. But Ruff's finale was less successful:it does not seem to me entirely plausible, let alone believable. I cannot say more, judge by yourself.

In conclusion, the book is far from perfect, but, more than the story itself and the multiple - far too many - plot-twists, what makes Bad Monkeys worth reading is Jane Charlotte's character. Jane Charlotte is one of those literary characters that readers can and should fall for. It is clear that Ruff takes more than a cue from Salinger's Holden Caulfield, often Jane to me sounds as if she is Holden's literary psychotic deranged twin. And that is a treat for any reader. Jane's recounting is what makes Matt Ruff's novel an enjoyable ride. Bad Monkeys is not perfect but certainly different from your usual commuting/flying novel. If you can cope with its imperfection, then I am sure you will like it.

great pace and characters
You will read this book in a day or two. Its a fast pace and keeps you wanted to read just one more chapter then you realize you just read five chapters. Some did not like the ending after reading some reviews here but I don`t understand because for me the ending justified your emotional attachment to the main character, I dont want to give anything away so Ill stop there. I give it four not five because though there are some main biblical references that add and advance the book sometimes he added other biblical references which were not needed and felt forced ( don`t worry this is not a religious book) but it does have a decent objective debate concerning religious or non-religious beliefs and he does it well because I feel a christian as well as an atheist will enjoy it and both agree.

Great New Novel
Definitely deserves a Four Star rating. A story tinged with the absurd. Somehow I can't think of it without pictureing the progressive insurance chick with her price gun as the main character.

Starts out strong, ends as meh
The book was not exactly what I was expecting, but I can honestly say that I liked it. About 3/4 of the book is excellent. Around the end it just gets a little too rediculous and convoluted for my taste. I really like the writer's style though. Reading Fool on the Hill right now (the author's most popular book I think) and it's really an amazing book. If the ending of Fool on the Hill sucks too I'll be very dissapointed, but I doubt it will be. I'm really close to the end right now and the book doesn't look like it's going to dissapoint. Read that book over this one. ... Read more

Product Description

Andy Gage was born in 1965 and murdered not long after by his stepfather. . . . It was no ordinary murder. Though the torture and abuse that killed him were real, Andy Gage's death wasn't. Only his soul actually died, and when it died, it broke in pieces. Then the pieces became souls in their own right, coinheritors of Andy Gage's life. . . .

Customer Reviews (52)

A great read
I really enjoyed this book! It was such a suspenseful and intense read, I would have thought the author had personal knowledge of D.I.D. himself to be able to create the worlds he does for the main characters. Great twists and interesting in detail, I have already recommended this book to several of my friends. Enjoy!

P.S. if, as another poster already stated, you are looking for a "Sybil" type story, it really is not contained here- you would need to look for a non-fiction D.I.D. story to get that type of story line.But that does not make this story any less interesting.Anyone with D.I.D. or an interest in that topic will find this book a good compliment to anything they have previously read.

Multiple personality order
Andy Gage is only two years old, but his body looks older.Andy is really the front for the multiple personalities that reside in his head.Like an office manager, he handles the day-to-day trials that Andy goes through, and keeps the other personalities in check.He's good at his job, and manages to live a fairly normal, if isolated life.His ordinary life changes the day his one friend, Julie, introduces him to Penny, another multiple.Penny is not as well adapted as Andy, and struggles to lead a normal life.As Andy tries to help Penny "set her house in order", he begins to discover his own house isn't as sturdy as he thought.Thus begins his desperate struggle to find out who he really is, and why is he is the way he is.This book sounds convoluted, but is a surprisingly engaging and easy to read novel.

A fascinating story
I know nothing about multiple personality disorder beyond fiction reading. How accurate the portrayal of MPD sufferers is in the book I do not know. The thing is - I don't care. I read this for a book group and probably would not have picked it up unprompted and I would have missed a fine read. The story grabbed me from the beginning and drew me into the world of the main characters with ease (though one of them did irritate the heck out of me), I found myself willing the story to continue beyond the end of the book.

A good take on Multiple Personality Disorder
Andrew and Penny make good narratives and they always made want to read "just a one more page".
This is the first book with a Multiple Personality Disorder story that I have read. I thought it could make for a fascinating read and it is in this book. I don't know if this is realistic but it makes for a good story. The two main characters are very different (ditto for all the other personalities within the two) and so are their disorders. It's not a book of suspense or mystery, even if it is included in the book, especially at the end. The books is more about exploring the worlds of Andrew and Penny and how they live with it, which is what I was interested in. Throw in a little twists, crime and mystery and it makes for a real good read.

Good Beginning, Then Fizzles...
I admit, it took me a while to get into this book.I started it and stopped it at least three times before I finally kept at it.When I did, I was glad I did.After finally getting into it, I was intrigued and enjoyed the premise of the story.However, the second half of the book just seemed pointless.It really fizzled out.I kept asking myself why I am reading this.It had a good beginning, it could have been a great book, but the author decided to steer it another direction after spending so much time developing the beginning of the story.At least the ending brought closure to the story.The author did take his time telling the audience where and what happened to each character.

Overall, the book was ok.It was just ok because it had potential to be great.Sure, the idea of the story was good, the character development, etc, but the storyline direction didn't make sense with the premise.Anyway, to each his own.I suppose others have rated it higher because of its originality, premise, characters, and so on.I agree those were all great, but it was the enjoyability factor of the second half that did it in for me. ... Read more

Product Description
Sewer, Gas & Electric is the exuberant follow-up to Matt Ruff's cult classic and critically acclaimed debut Fool on the Hill.High above Manhattan android and human steelworkers are constructing a new Tower of Babel for billionaire Harry Gant, as a monument to humanity's power to dream. In the festering sewers below a darker game is afoot: a Wall Street takeover artist has been murdered, and Gant's crusading ex-wife, Joan Fine, has been hired to find out why. The year is 2023, and Ayn Rand has been resurrected and bottled in a hurricane lamp to serve as Joan's assistant; an eco-terrorist named Philo Dufrense travels in a pink-and-green submarine designed by Howard Hughes; a Volkswagen Beetle is possessed by the spirit of Abbie Hoffman; Meisterbrau, a mutant great white shark, is running loose in the sewers beneath Times Square; and a one-armed 181-year-old Civil War veteran joins Joan and Ayn in their quest for the truth. All of whom, and many more besides, are caught up in a vast conspiracy involving Walt Disney, J. Edgar Hoover, and a mob of homicidal robots. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

AWESOME BOOK!
couldn't put this book down. one of the best books i've read!!!!LOVE IT!

Waste of paper
Do not waste your time, or money on this.

Dear mr ruff.When writing "satire" you must be both funny and relevant.You achieve neither.

Trite, college-student-like, waste of time
This book was very bad. It is not genius, clever, or even that interesting. The characters are not developed in any real way and the premise and plot situations are sophomoric and trite. This reads like a college student who had just read some philosophy and other literature decided to write a novel based on what he'd just learned. Had Ruff just read Ayn Rand before he wrote this? There's really no excuse for using her as a character in this book. It's unfair to and not even funny.

This book was a waste of time and my whole book group agreed. It just made us angry. I advise you to use your time more wisely to read something worthwhile. I can't believe this got published.Is it possible to give negative stars as a rating?

Matt Ruff is a genius - SGE is a symphony of words, images and characters
I originally wrote this "private" review in December 2002; however, I noticed some of the negative reviews and decided to re-post.Matt Ruff is just amazing.SGE and FOTH are two of my all time favorites.I've read SGE twice but lost my original copy so now I must buy another.Thank you to Amazon for restocking it!!!

12/21/2002:
Brilliant! Genocide, electronic slaves, eco-crusaders, the politics of power, social responsibility...how do you construct a novel with all these elements without frightening or boring your reader to death? Matt Ruff knows: a true artist. He extends reality to the point of what is seemingly fantastic; but, is it really? Probably not; however, the flow of Ruff's lyrical writing style and excellent comic relief empowers the reader with a sense of hope. All I can say is... WOW!!! This is a must for anyone's personal library. A rating under 4 doesn't do this book justice. I've given it a 5.

PS: FOTH is a very different book but another great example of Ruff's amazing talent.

Lots of work for no reward
I could write a 448 page book describing all of the different things I didn't like about this book, but I'll keep it short and sweet. This book was amateurish at best. When reading a book, watching a movie, or listening to a record, I frequently find myself in awe of the creators' talent. I criticize carefully, knowing that I probably couldn't do better. In this case though, I probably could do better than Matt Ruff! The humor, plot, and characters go beyond falling flat; they're damn near concave. The characters are all so superficially developed that it's as if they all have the same voice and the same (god awful) sense of humor. It was painful to read a 448 page book that is peopled by the annoying, unfunny, predictable uncle I never had wearing 40 different outfits and having 40 different names. I rolled my eyes so many times reading this book that I almost lost my balance on the subway. If you are looking for something TRULY edgy with a futuristic theme, check out Dhalgren. ... Read more

Product Description
As adventurous as the quests of J.R.R. Tolkien and as contemporary as the zany entertainment of Tom Robbins, "Fool on the Hill" is certain to bring laughs and be remembered for a long time to come. The hero is S.T. George, a young writer-in-residence at Cornell, who is looking for love and dragons to slay. Soon George is caught up in an epic struggle of life and death, good and evil, magic and love . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (96)

All Dogs Go to Heaven
If you liked Disney's "All Dogs Go to Heaven", you may like this.It just didn't work for me.Much better reads of the same genre include "Faerie Tale" or even "The Good Fairies of New York"... I don't remember the authors.

"Set This House in Order", also by Ruff, is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read.I love that book and pass it along often to anyone who expresses an interest.Having enjoyed "STHIO" so much, I searched Amazon to find another good novel by this wonderful author.Unfortunately, this book is just mediocre.

Awesome Fantasy
I am not usually a fantasy reader but I had read other books by Matt Ruff and enjoyed them, so I thought I give this a shot. So glad I did. Its not really "fantasy" in the strictest sense, though there is magic, sprites and a dragon. Highly entertaining! Great tension, great characters, and a great love story to boot. Definitely recommend this book to anyone who just wants to get lost in a great book.

Overly self-reflective novel from the age of post-modernism
I find it hard to bear when a novel starts to comment on its own plot and writing. Here, there is a whole plot sideline devoted to this, the all-knowing Mr. Sunshine commenting on the story and announcing when and how new characters are introduced and eliminated. There is not a single death that goes unannounced. The hero writer S. T. George eventually recognizes he's just a character in a novel, and that he must behave according to the "fairy tale" genre rules if he wants to succeed.

Even with such commenting going on, I still hoped the novel might climb to the level of humour and wittiness of e.g. Goldman's "Princess Bride". However, this is undercut by the sheer number of subplots that make it difficult for the reader to remain spellbound, and for the author to develop his characters: there are at least three sprites plots, the Luther-and-Manx plot, the Bohemians plot and a few other minor plotlines. The postmodernism of it all: cut a campus novel into small slices (cut off all parts related to actual studying and teaching), add a cup of Shakespearian sprites, a good measure of talking animals, an ounce of Tolkien, three branches of philosophy and a bit of weed, flavor with a few pinches of horror and romance, stir well and let it simmer - it makes a dish that I found hard to enjoy. In the end, it took me almost six weeks to finish the book.

To do the novel justice, it was written at the eve of what we today know as fantastic realism (Harry Potter, Bartimaeus etc.), and the idea to take a real life setting and inject it with fantastical elements wasn't that common and might have provided some novelty when it appeared. From today's perspective, it would have been desirable to flesh out the characters more, and find tragedy and comedy not so much in externally tweaked plots, but through the choices of believable characters. Still, I might pick up one of the novels the author has written since, and see what his ambition has led him to.

A wonderful little story...
Ok, while the reviews are overwhelmingly positive - and I'm firmly in that camp - it's also clear that some people don't like this book. Fair enough, different strokes for different folks, as it were. So who are the people that will like this book? Those who like writers like Tolkein, George R.R. Martin, Tom Robbins, Roger Zelazny,et al. This is high fantasy meets the "real world", after a fashion. It's not a morality tale, there isn't anything you can really learn from this book. It is, very simply, a wonderful story. Life, love, high - and low - adventure, a cast full of memorable characters.

This isn't a book you read expecting all the classic literary conventions, of rising and falling action with the denoument, but all those things exist here and more. And given the fact that Ruff wrote this when he was, what? All of twenty-two years of age? I doff my proverbial hat to the man.

And as those who love this book have pointed out, this is something you will re-read over the years, loan out, give away, and purchase for people you think worthy of it. Much like the Princess Bride, it's just a rollicking good tale that - if you're the type that enjoys these sorts of things - will make you smile at the end of the day. So, to clasp on to a much used cliche, I laughed, I cried, I though it was utter brilliance! I only hope that you're the type of person that can find the magic in this story that so many of us already have. Go in with an open heart and open mind and you may just find something wonderful with this little gem of a book.

Cheers
Cutter

Pretty much awesome.
This book gains fantastic momentum.Good for readers who like a break from realitosis. ... Read more

Product Description
A hugely inventive, hugely readable novel about two young people with Multiple Personality Disorder. 'A gripping novel of suspense that could have come from the pen of Stephen King at his best.' Daily Telegraph 'Mouse is lying in a strange bed, in a strange house, with her hand pressed between the thighs of a man she has never seen before...She doesn't scream. She wants to, but a lifetime of losing time -- and covering up the fact -- has left her skilled at controlling her reactions. She screams inside.' Penny Driver -- 'Mouse' -- suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder, blacking out whenever one of her other personalities takes control of her mind and body. So when Penny discovers that her new colleague Andrew Gage also suffers from MPD, she asks for his help. Through therapy, Andrew's personalities have long since learnt to co-exist in harmony in an imaginary house inside his head, but Andrew's 'house' is not quite so ordered as he would like to believe. In helping Penny, he discovers a locked door under the stairs, deep in his unconscious -- a door that hides the dark secret as to why Andrew's childhood mind shattered in the first place... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Matt Ruff's Best Novel To Date
"Set This House In Order" is Matt Ruff's finest work of fiction to date, brilliantly adding to a splendid body of work that includes such classics as his literary debut "Fool On The Hill" and the Ayn Rand-influenced cyberpunk novel "Sewer, Gas, Electric: The Public Works Trilogy". He offers a fascinating twist on the coming-of-age tale, exploring the lives of the multiple personalities inhabiting the bodies of Andrew Gage and Penny Driver. Like Jonathan Lethem in "Motherless Brooklyn", Ruff writes eloquently and with much compassion about two characters afflicted with a severe personality disorder. None of his splendid prose lapses into cliche or melodramatic writing. It's one of the few books I have read lately that I found almost impossible to put down, compelled to read vast portions of the novel at one clip. Without a doubt, Matt Ruff has become the most distinguished writer ever to have graduated from New York City's prestigious Stuyvesant High School. He is also among my generation's most talented writers, comparable in quality to the likes of Jonathan Lethem, Jeffrey Eugenides and Michael Chabon. ... Read more

Product Description
The year is 2023. In a New York City determined to outdo even the excesses of the late 20th century, such characters as submarine eco-terrorist Philo Dufresne, billionaire Harry Gant, a mutant shark who prowls the sewer system, and the reanimated soul of the novelist Ayn Rand are caught up in a conspiracy involving Walt Disney, J. Edgar Hoover and an army of homicidal robots.Amazon.com Review
The closest fictional relatives of Sewer, Gas &Electric may not be books at all but visionary movies likeBrazil and Blade Runner. A comic writer and InformationAge social satirist of the first water, Matt Ruff has one of the mostfertile imaginations you'll come across, and the confident chops tostring the fruits of this inventive intelligence together. The storyis set in a near-future Manhattan of mile-high skyscraper constructionprojects, eco-terrorism, man-eating mutant sewer-dwelling white sharksand even more dangerous corporations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (55)

All hip and no meat
This is a hipster book: it cloaks itself in words of profundity, what appear to be "big" concepts to those who think Ayn Rand is philosophy, and allusions to greats like Pynchon, but really it's a lengthy comic book acting out in linear fashion a convoluted but transparent premise, all designed to get you to buy into this guy's off-the-shelf "perspective" on the world. Ruff isn't a thinker, although he does a good job of embellishing this transparent plot, and this book isn't designed to bring you new information as much as gather around those who already agree. It reminds me a lot of T. Coraghessen Boyle, who writes rambling "funny" (not really) books that try through intricacy to obscure the literal political commentary that they are, but fail. This book does so similarly. It's smarmily clever, yet despite all its attempts to appear profound, shallow as a recent puddle. Even for those who like postmodern literature it's hard to argue this book brings learning, or experience, or even a good read to the table. Avoid.

Zany fun romp
Folks expecting a discourse on Objectivism will be disappointed, but this is a fun zany book nonetheless.The sheer imagination of the author is amusing, as you try to decode how all the subplots are going to come together.By the last third of the book, however, the novely wears off, but the author picks up the pace and put in some interesting action to keep reader's interest, though much of the ending is a bit too convenient for my taste.Not an intellectual tour de force, but if you don't get too serious, it will pay you back handsomely in fun.

SG&E- a Great Read
Brilliant!Genocide, electronic slaves, eco-crusaders, the politics of power, social responsibility...how do you construct a novel with all these elements without frightening or boring your reader to death?Matt Ruff knows: a true artist. He extends reality to the point of what is seemingly fantastic; but, is it really?Probably not; however, the flow of Ruff's lyrical writing style and excellent comic relief empowers the reader with a sense of hope. All I can say is... WOW!!! This is a must for anyone's personal library.A rating under 4 doesn't do this book justice.I've given it a 5.

PS: FOTH is a very different book but another great example of Ruff's amazing talent.

update: 6/20/06
I originally wrote my review in 2002 and just realized this book is no longer available on Amazon.Although I still have my old copy, I wanted another clean, unhandled copy for safekeeping.This was an amazing book and I simply can't understand why everyone does not have a copy of it.

Getting people to laugh at Ayn Rand requires no skill.
It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

With a Kalashnikov.

More than once.

Think about it. How many of these Amazon[.com] reviewers, in the limited time and space available to tell the world what they thought of this book, chose to highlight the fact that it makes fun of Ayn Rand? If this book was so great, or so funny, you'd think they'd have found something *original* to say about it. Oh, wanting the book to be original...must have been reading too much Ayn Rand, ha ha.

Go back a few years, to _The Fountainhead_, and read Ellsworth Toohey's views on humor.

I didn't think the book was funny.

Thought provoking and clever
This novel defies classification.It is part SF, part satire, but all very readable and enjoyable.It is thought-provoking but doesn't beg to be taken seriously, and certainly not literally.
For the objectivists in the crowd, I recommend it for those who thought *Atlas Shrugged* was gospel when they read it in college, but who are now ready to begin questioning Ayn Rand's philosophy. ... Read more

Product Description
Surfaces, Depths is a representative selection of Thomas Ruff's works, over a period that already spans about 25 years, with projects ranging from portraits and interiors to telescope and space probe pictures and "nightsight" photography. Ruff incorporates an extremely wide range of everyday subjects into his experiments--people, architecture, planets, the Internet--and subjects them to all forms of camera technology, so that his work often seems to embody the history of the art as it develops. Ruff has a particular fascination with photographic techniques that appear to erase or leave out the artist's hand, techniques often designed for military or scientific purposes. In a recent series titled Zycles, for example, Ruff constructs his images with the help of mathematical formulas and computer technology, twisting two-dimensional surfaces into the three-dimensional space of vector graphics. Surfaces and Depths focuses on ten of Ruff's total of 18 projects to address this particular ongoing preoccupation with artistic detachment, and the polarities of surface and depth vision in the construction of images. In doing so, it makes the broadest assessment to date of the oeuvre of this tireless innovator. ... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 1379. ... Read more