Fred Laforge reveals the beauty of the human body by reducing it to is most basic visual elements. For his latest show at Galerie [sas] titled ИСЧЕЗНОВЕНИЕ, which is Russian for “Disappearance”, he eliminated all extraneaous details of the human figure, forcing every curve of the face, every fold of the skin into a rigid grid. His drawings and sculptures deconstruct the human form until all that is left is a robot-like, primitive prototype of a human head or a pixelated portrait of a nude body.

But even though Laforge reduces humans to their most basic geometry, each artwork still retains the unique character of the individual. This may be due to the fact that Laforge focuses his artistic practice on questioning Western, especially Hellenistic ideas about beauty. His models don’t conform to our standard description of the perfect body. They are aged, voluptuous, flabby, bald. Yet the artworks derived from these ‘flawed’ bodies are elegant, tidy, and beautiful.

Laforge’s use of media ranges from classical techniques to cutting-edge technology. His large-format nudes look like pixelated computer printouts, but are in fact meticulously drawn with graphite on paper. On the other end of the spectrum, his sculpture of a male nude titled Personnage pixel was created using a 3D printer.

It is fascinating to see the essence of the human spirit force its way through the jagged, clinical forms of Laforge’s work.

Galerie [sas], space 416
Fred Laforge
ИСЧЕЗНОВЕНИЕ
January 26 – March 10, 2012
www.galeriesas.com