Georges Rousse

Paris, 1947

Since the 1980s, the artist has pursued a photography-based work that is unique in its interdisciplinarity. His research goes beyond the photographic language to explore aspects of architecture, site-specific artworks, land art and painting, with photographic references drawn from figures like Alfred Stieglitz and Ansel Adams. However, one of Rousse’s greatest influences is the suprematist painter Kasimir Malevich, especially his Black Square (1913-1915), which had such an impact on him that he felt driven to invent an original way of unifying painterly language with issues of spatiality in the photographic field.

It was based on this work that Rousse began a line of research that would see him construct meticulous ephemeral installations inside abandoned or condemned buildings in order to transform them into illusory—he uses the term “pictorial”—spaces that exist only in photography. Adopting large-format enlargements, like those on show at the Triennial, the artist created an immersive experience that draws the viewer inside virtual scenarios. Six photographs from different phases were exhibited at Frestas, including Oberhausen (1996) and Matsushima (2013)—a brief but significant retrospective of his career to date.