video 1.0 Vimeo http://vimeo.com/ Jun Lee http://vimeo.com/user433151 0 <object width="504" height="380"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1265556&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1265556&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="504" height="380"></embed></object> 504 380 104 One of the most important topics in the world of global business is the story of the "emerging nations." In a global economy, places like China, India, Brazil, Russia, Viet Nam and Dubai, among others, are affecting what we do in ways that would have been unthinkable not many years ago. Not just in a financial sense (although their impact there is substantial) - but in a cultural and societal sense as well. François Rousseau on Amor Causa: Les Béatitudes In December 2004, Paulo Pereira da Silva, President of Renova, asked me to consider a photographic project based on the Beatitudes that Christ preached to his disciples. In Christian art the Beatitudes had been depicted for two thousand years only by implication: Jesus preaching the Sermon on the Mount surrounded by the twelve disciples. The nature of the assignment, the universal message of the Beatitudes on the subject of forgiveness, purity, pacifism, poverty and love demanded it be set among a cross-section of modern-day cultures. I knew I wouldn’t be visiting a city with perfect race relations. And because of Rio’s reputation for violence, I was extremely worried about working there at all; I was warned not to go out in the street carrying or wearing anything that might arouse envy. Nonetheless, I had the feeling that in the melting-pot of races that forms the Brazilian identity I would discover a young society with a new definition of nationhood. Speak to any black person – man or woman – from the favelas (slums); they’ll tell you about their problems, about poverty and racial prejudice. Yet the basic structure of Brazilian society and its mixed-race culture gives the impression of a people living totally at ease with one another’s colour. If you have the chance, flick through the Brazilian TV channels. You’ll soon find out, if you admit that a high media profile is a measure of integration, that we have a few lessons to learn from Brazil. But back to that commission. The man who asked me to photograph the Beatitudes is deeply religious. Paulo Pereira da Silva admitted he was very much moved by my tableaux which reminded him of paintings of the Descent from the Cross and the Crucifixion. The Beatitudes project was offered to me just as I was about to undertake an assignment of a very different nature in Los Angeles; now here I was being asked to portray humanist values, to reflect on the nature of the divine. BIOGRAPHY François Rousseau was born in 1967. He began his photography career in 1995 after ten years of fine art painting. Numerous magazines in Europe, the US, Asia as well as advertising agencies commissioned his work for campaigns such as L’Oreal, Ikea, American Express, Air France, Visa Card, Showtime and BNP Paribas. Currently, Rousseau alternates between commercial, fashion, and art photography. His upcoming projects include: Atelier, which will exhibit in Maison Européenne De La Photographie in Paris, winter 2009 and also he is working on a book about dance, one of his passions. Rousseau shares his life between Paris and New York. EXHIBITIONS, AWARDS & PUBLISHED BOOKS FEBRUARY/MARCH/APRIL 2009: First exhibition of ATELIER, Maison Européenne De La Photographie (European house of photography) + Pierre-Alain Challier Gallery APRIL 9TH 2009: Publication of ORA, VOYAGE Á TAHITI, Marval publisher + ORA exhibition in Pierre-Alain Challier Gallery, Paris APRIL 24-26, MAY 1-3 2008: GLASSY ESSENCE Installation #3, collaboration with the choreographer Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Danse + Photography + video DECEMBER 2007: AMOR CAUSA exhibition in Rio MARCH 2006: AMOR CAUSA First exhibition in Art Paris, Grand Palais NOVEMBER 17TH 2005: Publication of AMOR CAUSA, LES BÉATITUDES, Fitway Publishing Exhibition « Beauty by… » 6 photographers working with digitals… Shangai: DUOLUN MUSEUM, Musée d’art moderne de Shangai, October 7-28th 2005 Paris: Galerie des Galeries Lafayette, November 3-12th Galerie Biche de Bere, November 17-20th SEPTEMBER 2005: US Publication of LOCKER ROOM NUDES, Dieux du stade, Rizzoli USA/Universe SPRING 2005: Publication of PRINCES OF THE SEA, Fitway publishing MARCH 2005: Exhibition at ARTCURIAL in Paris and participation of the running exhibition FACE TO FACE (AFAA) NOVEMBER 2004: Publication of HABIBI, NYC, (Book + CD of the original soundtrack of the exhibition), Martin du Louvre Editions Second collaboration with the Japanese artist SAKURA: THE KABUTO PROJECT II, NYC OCTOBER 2004: Exhibition HABIBI, NYC, ART PARIS far, Martin du Louvre Gallery SPRING 2004: Publication of DIEUX DU STADE, the book, Éditeur Stade, Paris Publication of ICI EST TOMBÉ, Parole Sur La Libération de Paris, Tirésias Publisher, Paris SUMMER 2003: First collaboration with the Japanese artist SAKURA : THE KABUTO PROJECT I, NYC JUNE TO DECEMBER 2002: recipient of the VILLA MEDICIS HORS LES MURS/AFAA award. For the Médicis project, Rousseau went to New York, and it was here where he started to work with large format photographs (using an 8x10 camera). HABIB,NYC is a mix of realistic portraiture and fictional composition, focusing on a 20-year old boxer living in Brooklyn and a young interracial gay couple from Manhattan. APRIL 2002: Workshop in Beijing/china at the Central Academy of Fine Art (CAFA) . Exhibition at the Media loft center, Beijing. DECEMBER 2001: Exhibition at the TADU GALLERY during the Bangkok month of the photography. Collaboration with the Maison Européenne De La Photographie JUNE 2001: Acquisition by the Maison Européenne De La Photographie of 5 original prints from PRINCES OF THE SEA Participation in the running exhibition VISION 01 curated by the magazine CRASH and produced by the french public cultural association, AFAA http://images.vimeo.com/90/12/29/90122910/90122910_200x150.jpg 200 150 1265556