Georges Rousse

GEORGES ROUSSE (Paris, 1947).
Untitled. Barcelona, 2003.
Photographic paper, copy 12/30.
Signed, numbered, traced and dated by hand.
Exhibited at the Carles Taché gallery, Barcelona, 2003.
Size: 52 x 41 cm; 75 x 63 cm (frame).
Since the early 1980s, Georges Rousse's work has been characterised by the relationships he has established between photography, painting, sculpture and architecture. The photographic language, however, is the backbone of the others, dialoguing with them and playing with spatial effects. This was seen in the exhibition held at the Carles Taché gallery in Barcelona, of which this work was part.
Ever since he received a Kodak Brownie Flash as a Christmas present when he was 9 years old, the camera has never left Georges Rousse's hands. While studying medicine in Nice, he decided to learn the techniques of photography and printing from a professional, and then set up his own architectural photography studio. Increasingly, his passion led him to devote himself entirely to the artistic practice of this medium, following in the footsteps of the great American masters Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz and Ansel Adams. It was with the discovery of the works of Land art and Kasimir Malevitch's Black Square on a White Background that Georges Rousse chose to intervene in the field of photography, establishing a relationship between painting and space. He appropriates abandoned places that he has always liked, transforms them into pictorial spaces and builds there a unique and ephemeral work that only photography can reproduce. In order to allow the spectator to share his experience of Space, he has been presenting his images in large format prints since the early 1980s. This strong and singular work, which shifts the boundaries between traditional media, immediately imposed itself on the contemporary art scene. Since his first exhibition in Paris, at the Galerie de France in 1981, Georges Rousse has continued to create his installations and show his photographs all over the world, in Europe, Asia (Japan, Korea, China, Nepal), the United States, Quebec and Latin America. He has participated in numerous biennials (Paris, Venice, Sydney) and received many prestigious awards: 1983: Villa Medicis hors les murs, New York City 1985 -1987: Villa Medicis, Rome 1988: International Center of Photography Award, New York 1989: Salon de Montrouge Drawing Award 1992: Romain Roland Fellowship, Calcutta 1993: Grand Prix National de Photographie 2008: Succeeded Sol LeWitt as associate member of the Royal Belgian Academy. He is represented by several European galleries and his works are included in many important collections around the world.