Georges Rousse Creates Public Art Project in Durham, NC

Monday, 28 August 2006 11:56

Durham, N.C. -- French artist Georges Rousse, internationally known for his site-specific trompe l’oeil constructions, will partner with about 100 community and student volunteers to execute new works of art in four soon-to-be-renovated downtown Durham buildings during a month-long residency starting September 4th.

Rousse fabricates magical worlds in everyday spaces that are impossible and perplexing visual conundrums.  Armed only with paint, simple building materials, and the laws of perspective, he creates strange optical puzzles which morph from 2D to 3D depending on your vantage point.  His intriguing body of work fuses architecture, painting, and photography into one aesthetic discipline.

From a field of a dozen potential sites, the artist has chosen four historic buildings including the former Baldwin Department Store building, the Bargain Furniture building, the Liberty Tobacco Warehouse, and the Chesterfield Building in the Liggett Myers Tobacco complex.

By design, his works are typically short-lived creations that help usher the past into the present.  The installations live on in stunning large format color photographs that are exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide.  His most recent solo show is currently on display at the Musée Réattu in Arles, France. His photographs are included in the collections at The Louvre, the Guggenheim Museum and the Brooklyn Museum of Art, among others.

Rousse was born in Paris in 1947.  As a child growing up after World War II, he played in abandoned, war-torn buildings around the city.  He received formal training in architecture and advertising and began to make installation art and photography in the 1970s.