Shane Lavalette

I was chatting with Michael Bühler-Rose (who, if you haven’t noticed, is currently holding down the fort for Laurel) and we got to talking about this installation piece posted on VVORK. “You just can’t look away,” Michael said. Seeing Mai Hofstad Gunnes‘ piece made me think of the work of French photographer George Rousse. Which reminded me… Georges Rousse’s work is pretty incredible.

Russelheim, 2003
© Georges Rousse

© Georges Rousse

A nice description of his process, via Wikipedia:

Rousse’s work, from the 1990s to today, generally appears at first glance to be photos of desolate or abandoned spaces (buildings, rooms, parking garages or streetscapes) often on their way to the wrecking ball, on which the artist has superimposed precise geometrical shapes or squiggly graffiti.

However, this is an intended illusion: what Rousse does is to paint these designs onto the abandoned spaces before taking the photo, correcting for such things as the slope of floors or the interruption of beams, so that the painted designs come together to produce the illusion of a simple, flat design floating on the surface of the photo.

A few more examples:

Réel, 2003
© Georges Rousse

Köln, 2002
© Georges Rousse

Dravert, 2007
© Georges Rousse

© Georges Rousse

Take a look at more of his photographs here (in a film about his work), here, here and here. I also highly recommend picking up Contacts (Vol. 3) to hear him talk about his work. And if you’re into Rousse, you’ll probably like Felice Varini.