Gustave Courbet / Tony Oursler

Tony Oursler, who has chosen Courbet's Studio, presents an installation in the very gallery where the monumental painting is exhibited. He has invented his own studio, displayed as a theatre set whose dimensions are identical to those of Courbet's painting, 361 x 598 cm. On two Perspex screens, the portraits of his relatives and friends appear in succession as video projections; moving pictures are presented next to paintings and sculptures by artists he likes. Shapes answer one another. The installation, with its intense tones, gathers elements of the artist's life, presented on an allegorical mode, in a continuous narration, thus letting the spectator glimpse into his personal universe.

"Courbet chose to depict himself at work, turned away from the viewer, looking into the picture space. I want to be the work, the picture space looking out at the viewer/participant. Just as Courbet was defining his reality, I want to mark our time. Today the simulacrum is as real as anything." (From Tony Oursler's interview with Jacqueline Humphries, New York, Summer 2004)

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Correspondences Gustave Courbet / Tony Oursler