Claude Roussel, Hommage à Duchamp et Marilyn, 1975, thermoplastique moulé sous vide, 51 X 66 X 10 cm
« ...c’est toujours mon amour pour la forme. »
— Claude Roussel, 2014
“…it’s always my love for shapes.”
— Claude Roussel, 2014
An overview of Claude Roussel’s career reveals a continuum of artistic production that spans over 60 years. His need to surpass himself, technically as well as aesthetically, has been evident since the beginning of his career, and it is often astounding to see how rapidly he manages to change styles or means of expression.
At the end of the 1960s, Roussel began exploring the expressive and technical possibilities of moulding polymer sheets. This new phase in his artistic process provided the opportunity to pursue his research on pure form while exploring ways to obtain a solid, self-supporting surface from his materials. Up until then, Roussel’s work had mainly featured supple fabrics stretched out unto metal rod frames, but in the early 1970s this construction made way for a solid surface offering more complex possibilities regarding relief and form. From the onset, sculpture in the round was Roussel's main preoccupation, but over the years, he gradually evolved towards bas-relief resulting in a frontal view of the work, placed inside a rectangular or square frame format. Roussel subsequently undertook the production of a vast series of paper casting; this new and more organic technique marks yet another metamorphosis in his work.
EROS AND TRANSFIGURATION brings together various works by Roussel moulded from plastic sheets, as well as examples of pieces made by using stretched fabric. There is also a three-dimensional model of Eros Corten, a large-scale sculpture permanently installed outside the Jacqueline-Bouchard building on the Université de Moncton campus. Overall, these artworks reflect years of creative outbursts and underline Roussel’s major role in the history of visual arts in Acadie during the second half of the 20th century.
The moulding process used by Roussel can be described as follows: the artist begins by constructing a solid structure similar in shape and size to the piece he wants to create. This structure, the matrix, is then placed horizontally on the table of a machine specially designed for the production of plastic advertising signs. The heated polymer sheet is then mechanically lowered over the matrix after which a pump creates a vacuum between the two surfaces, thus ensuring an immediate bond. The magic happens when the heated polymer sheet becomes malleable and regains its hardness while cooling, but now in another shape. Two forces are at work here: the transformation of plastic matter using heat, and the artistic production of a three-dimensional object that now reflects how the artist perceives form, structure, and volume.
There exists a marked contrast between the sensuality of the forms created by Roussel and the synthetic qualities of his art materials. If we consider, on the one hand, the human dimension of this equation, which unites the erotic elements of the work; and, on the other hand, the utilitarian intent of the materials used by Roussel for his creations, we come to realize that these two very separate components might seem at first incompatible. The artist succeeds in bringing together two defining aspects of his work, be they Eros or spirituality, by using a manufacturing process that he has made his own; and through which he elaborates on an aesthetic quality which is firmly anchored in his personal vision of the world. Synthetic materiality meshes with the very depths of human intimacy, and the creative act is thereafter externalized, its effects manifested in a fixed and permanent manner.
The pieces selected for this exhibit are part of an extensive body of work completed over many years. It would be challenging to make a global and generic synthesis describing his entire lifework since Roussel is continuously occupied with ongoing art projects. The fact that he is very prolific would only make the task more complex.
As an artist, Claude Roussel has left a profound mark on his era; he was able to articulate an intelligent discourse on art for a public that was not always very receptive. His will, combined with an insatiable need to create, made him one of Acadie's most important cultural figures. Thanks to his ability to explore and an inexhaustible curiosity, he remains a source of inspiration for us all.
Paul Édouard Bourque, curator and artist
Communiqué de presse Press release
Tous les images © Claude Roussel
Photos : Mathieu Léger
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