SCULPTURES

IRENE ROUSSEAU
41 Sunset Drive
Summit
New Jersey
007901 USA
(908) 273739
Rousseau1edu@aol.com


Artist's Statement
 
 
 

As a sculptor I am interested in bridging the disciplines of art, science and math. This interest has resulted in sculptures which investigate light, space and time as a medium in art. My interest is to achieve visual ambiguity and paradox. Geometry is a vehicle for this. The materials I have used are glass, metal and mosaics depending on the nature of the problem I have posed for myself to explore.

Some of my sculptures investigate the ordering of space through the dispersion of light into spectral colors by refraction and diffraction through transmission and reflection. Some sculptures focus on the interpenetration of space through superimposition without the optical destruction of the common overlapping part. Simultaneity, ambiguity and paradox is the visual result. It is a concept of time.

The walk through sculptures present a light/space experience in a linear rhythm of shadows and voids.

My mosaic sculptures are geometric and explore the concept of ambiguity and paradox. My rules for geometry are problems of symmetry using modules and topology. Some are tessellated patterns. Fragmented surfaces and irregular characters are combined with geometry. The wall becomes an undefined space which interacts with matter (mosaics) and is an integral part of the work. These sculptures "float" as they visually defy their materiality. Material reality and painted illusion pose the question as to the nature of its location in space/as space. We simultaneously perceive the relationship of part to the whole and understand the pseudo-language as a symbol of the fusion of what has preceded and is in the present. It is the paradox of linearity/process and simultaneity of comprehending it and seeing it all at once. It is the perception of time collapsed in the present moment in the NOW

In my installations and large scale commissions I sculpt and modulate light as space using various surfaces to achieve this. Through art I seek to express my perception about the hidden formal order in our world as ambiguity and paradox and to find connections with science and math.
 



 
 

Flying Shapes
(stretched geometric shapes)
 
 

"Nordic Floe I " wall sculpture (bisque aluminum)
 
 


 

"Nordic Floe II", wall sculpture (bisque aluminum), Mitsui Fudosan, Bedminster, NJ.
 
 

"Nordic Floe I & II", wall sculptures (bisque aluminum)
 
 

"Installation", wall sculpture (bisque aluminium), private collection
 
 

"Modulated Passage ", walk through sculpture (welded steel), private collection
 
 

"Sports in Action ", one of 7 different sports scenes wall sculptures ,
 Capital Sports Inc., Connecticut
 
 

"Motion" wall sculpture
 
 

"Variable Planar Construction", sculpture
 
 



 

Print
 
 

"Interweaving Rhythms", lithograph; Metropolitan Museum of Art,
 Guggenheim Museum, NY
 
 



 

Mosaic Sculptures
 

"Allegro/Allegra", mosaic mural, concert hall, Switzerland
 
 

"Allegro/Allegra" (detail)
 
 

"Transformation", sculpture
 
 

"3 part Construction", wall sculpture, Fine Arts Museum, Valetta, Malta
 
 

"Tettares 4", wall sculpture
 
 

"Duet of 3's", wall sculpture
 
 

"Progression", wall sculpture, private collection
 
 

"Anomalous Symmetry", wall sculpture, private collection
 
 

"Spiraling Light ", mosaic mural, Overlook Hospital, Summit, NJ
 
 

"Cadence", wall sculpture
 
 

"Circle: Progressive Reduction", wall sculpture
 
 
 

"Circle: Progressive Reduction"  (detail)
 

"Digital Composition"
 
 

"Colors: Advance and Recede", wall sculpture, private collection
 
 

Wall sculpture
 



 
 

Sculptures- Spectral Light
 

Refraction 1
 
 
 

Refraction 2
 
 
 

Refraction 3
 
 
 

Diffraction 4
 
 

Diffraction 5
 
 

Diffraction 6
 
 

Refraction and Diffraction 7
 
 

Refraction and Diffraction 8
 
 




 
 
 
 
 

Public Collections (selected)

MAMCO, Geneva, Switzerland
The British Museum, London, England 
The National Museum of Fine Arts, Valetta, Malta 
Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, USA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
MOMA, New York, USA
Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France
National Gallery of Art, Rome, Italy
Yale University, Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Lectures & Exhibitions: combined ( selected)

“VIII International Colloquium AIEMA 1997
University of Lausanne, Switzerland
“International Art Biennale” 1997, Malta (recipient installation award for USA)
“BRIDGES: Mathematical Connections in Art, Music and Science” Conference 1999
Fellowship in Greece, artist in residence, Summer 2000
Grant Program (New York Council for the Humanities) lecture at Hillwood Museum, Long Island University, USA (in conjunction with exhibit)

Exhibitions (selected)

“International Malta Biennnale Awards Travelling Exhibit” Europe, Middle East, USA 1997-2002
Wignacourt Museum, Rabat, Malta 1997
“Centennial Exhibit”  New Jersey Center for Visual Art, USA 1997

Commissions (selected)

Concert Hall, “Allegro/Allegra” ,La Roche/Lausanne, Switzerland
The Brotherhood Synagogue, “Holocaust Memorial :From Destruction to Peace” ,Gramercy Park, New York City, New York
Beacon Hill Club “Transitions”, Summit, New Jersey
Capital Sports Inc. Headquarters “Sports in Action”, Stamford, Connecticut
Overlook Hospital, Spiraling Light”, Summit, New Jersey
Numerous Private Collectors, Internationally
 

All art works copyright:  Rousseau ©
 


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