Gorgeous Georges

Georges Rousse

Georges Rousse started out painting murals on walls in abandoned buildings, mostly murals of people. He then moved into painting abstractions of space in abandoned buildings. After painting the building he then photographs the space. The result is a photograph that is kind of an optical illusion, where you cannot tell the difference between what is really in the space and what he painted to look like it's in the space.
The interesting thing about Rousse's work is that although most of the work takes place while he is preparing a place to be photographed, he considers the final piece of artwork to be the photograph of the installation, not the actual installation. This is partly to do with the fact that Rousse uses the framing of the photograph very deliberately to help with the spacial illusion. In each of his photographs there are three important elements: the circle, the frame, and the field. The circle is the space in the picture he has manipulated. The frame is the part of the picture that he kept the same as when he found it. The field is the way he frames the space in the camera. Each of these elements are important in creating the mood and the illusion in the photograph.

In each photograph Rousse creates a new "reality" that is not normally visible. Rousse relates this to a sort of spirituality of spaces, or the existence of things that we cannot see with the naked eye. His photographs of the people painted in abandoned buildings suggest a "spark of light" that was there and still exists there if we pay attention to the details of the abandoned space. In other photographs he shows that some of the original uses for the abandoned building are still there, even though people seem to have deemed it no longer usable. He uses this concept as a symbol of hope for situations that are seemingly hopeless and says "There are always ways of terminating or changing a situation, even the most negative ones."
In Rousse's photographs we see new life in spaces that were at one time abandoned as useless.

soissens 2004
The perspective in this picture makes it seem even more surreal. The concept of this picture is not as abstract as some of the other ones that are more colorful, but the fact that we are floating in midair along with the big black dot gives us the feeling of irrationality while still being subtle enough to not seem completely unrealistic.

martinique 1990
To me this picture says that the world is a canvas.

les mesnuls 2005
I like the use of the mirror in this image. The mirror acts as a sort of portal into a world that is completely unlike the world we live in.

iena 2000
In this photo Rousse used light to distort the scene. This is interesting to me because it is something that you could actually come across in everyday life. I have seen scenes that have been distorted and are hard to make out because of the strange lighting.

geneve 1984
This image is one of Rousse's more abstract works. It is hard to see what is going on even in the parts of the picture that are the original space. The whole photograph reads more as an abstract idea than his other photos.

Easton 2004
This is one of Rousse's images in which he uses mirrors to distort reality. It differs from his other images in mood. This image is clean and modern and doesn't have the abandoned feeling of the other images.

cologne 2002
This picture is humorous to me. It seems like the idea was that someone was making a building and decided to abandon the project and just scratched it out like a little kid would scratch out a drawing that he didn't like. It creates a sense that someone just gave up on the building. It does not create the "hopeful" mood that some of his other works do. It is kind of the opposite.

charles jourdan 1983

This is one of Rousse's early works. The "spiritual" theme that Rousse talks about is really evident in his early works. This image is striking to me because the "frame" gives an eerie derelict feeling, and the imagery in the painting gives off the same feeling of disaster. The image of the ocean as being desolate is mirrored in the desolate feeling of the frame.

Casablanca 2003
In this particular image Rousse painted the area to get it to look like there was a block of color in the room. To me this image demonstrates the importance of having the "frame" portion of the picture. The fact that the frame is recognizable and mundane almost makes it seem believable that there is a block of color in the middle of it. The contrast of real and unreal seems like it could actually exist.

Argentan 1997
This image is a part of Rousse's series of pictures where he cut holes through walls and manipulated whatever was behind the wall. This particular image is interesting to me because it makes me think of what it would be like to be able to see through the walls of an apartment into the next apartment. It toys with the fact that you really have no idea what is going on on the other side of the wall when you are in your apartment. The contrast between the starkness and realism of the foreground contrasts with the colorful fantasy of the background just as your imagination of what is on the other side of the wall might be a little more fantastical than reality.