Roman à Clef, Tony Oursler

Tony Oursler (American, born 1957)

Roman à Clef, 2012

Video projection, sound, assemblage of found objects, steel stand

Purchase with funds from a gift of Frumkin/Adams Gallery, New York, by exchange, 2013 (2013-3-01)

New York artist Tony Oursler is well-known for his sculptures combining video, sound, and language with constructed or fabricated sculptural elements, melding media culture and theatrical tradition. Oursler has explored methods of taking the moving image away from the video monitor and projecting it onto three-dimensional surfaces and environments to create miniaturized worlds in which funny, strange, surreal narratives and imagery confront the viewer. Roman à Clef is from a recent body of work which Oursler calls “micro-sculptures.” Each incorporate small found objects and tiny video projections within a proscenium mounted on a metal stand. These intimate tableaux offer concrete pictures of thoughts and psychology. Oursler has described this body of work: “The characters interact as though they embody poetically layered patterns of thought. Each of these works is a contemplation on human relationships and the implicit existential struggle; I invite the viewer to lean in and decipher the shouts and murmurs as these relationships unfold. I hope they recognize a few of these situations.”