October 26 - November
21, 2004
Georges Rousse
Interventions
French artist Georges Rousse’s photographs of his architectural
“interventions” do not reveal the complex interaction
of perspective, illusion, and spatial relations he uses to create
the images.
The Williams
Center gallery served as a temporary studio for Rousse. Over a five-day
period, working with paint, simple building materials, and the laws
of perspective, he created an illusion that coalesced into a single
vantage point as seen through the wide angle, 65 mm, lens of his 4x5
camera. Moving from that vantage point the illusion disappears, but
the spatial reasoning and technical skill that created it becomes
apparent. A gallery visitor could partially view the illusion by standing
at the same point and covering one eye. Most of the line segments
joined to create continuous lines. However, it was only through the
lens that the top, bottom, and sides of the image became straight
lines, 90° corners were created, and the “optical puzzle”
could be seen as Rousse conceived it.
In preparation for the Lafayette project, the artist worked with photographs
of the gallery to develop a series of ideas. These studies included
writing the word dream, creating a drawing in space, and incorporating
an architectural setting into either. Upon his arrival on October
12, Rousse selected a project that started with the construction of
architectural elements and floor that would serve as a background
for a gestural drawing. The perimeter of the installation and the
angles of the columns were established by Rousse as he looked through
the camera. Working with the camera was essential in order to take
into account the effect of lens distortion on the final photograph.
After construction was completed, students worked for two days to
paint the black lines that created the illusion of a drawing in space.
For Rousse,
the installations are always temporary; all that endures are the final
photographs, which are often exhibited far from the manipulated site.
By leaving the Lafayette project intact during the exhibition period,
visitors could compare it to the photograph and observe the interaction
of camera and installation.
Born
in Paris in 1947, Rousse received formal training in architecture
and advertising. He began to work with installation art and photography
in the 1970s. Since then, he has produced a body of work that fuses
photography, painting, drawing, and architecture into one challenging
aesthetic experience.
In 1984
Rousse began to make interventions—complex photographic works
transforming architectural structures that were to be demolished—to
challenge conventional ways of seeing. He has completed commissions
throughout the world, and his work is widely exhibited. His many awards
include Villa Medici Fellowship in New York (1983); Villa Medici Fellowship
in Rome (1985-87); Prix de Rome (1986); Drawing Prize at Montrouge
(1989); Romain Rolland Fellowship in Calcutta (1992); and Grand Prize
of La Bibliothèque Nationale de France (1993).
Acknowledgments:
Georges
Rousse was a pleasure to work with on this project. Many thanks to
those who worked on the installation including students Katie Donnelly’06,
Stacey L. Ehrlich ’05, Charles Felix ’08, Johanna Garschina
’05, Jennifer Graye 05, Marly Hammer ’05, Lai Huang ’07,
Dora Johnson ’08, QiJie Lao ’08, Keming Liang ’08,
Vanessa Araujo-Lopera ’08, Irina Mladenova ’08, Lindsay
O’Connor ’08, Jinjin Qian ’08, and Mrittika Shamsuddin
’08; Mario Cozzubbo, Ron Morgan, and Mike Breiner of the College’s
plant operations; and Easton artist Koenraad von Linden Tol, who assisted
with the installation.
Rousse’s
photographs were loaned courtesy of the artist and Robert Mann Gallery,
New York.
Note:
Georges Rousse is creating an "intervention" for the French
Pavillion at the World Expo 2005, in Aichi, Japan (March 25 - September
2, 2005)
