Richard Dupont
Middlebury, VT. New York artist Richard Dupont (b. 1968) employs cutting edge technology to produce drawings, prints, sculptures and installations that explore opportunities for self-surveillance and the perception of identity in an increasingly digital world. In 2000 and 2004, Dupont made full-body laser scans of himself that would serve as templates for the diverse works that he created thereafter. Four of these will be on display at the Middlebury College Museum of Art, in the Mahaney Center for the Arts, Route 30, through Sunday, December 11.
Three over-life-size prints present a computer generated image of the artist’s head, each being a completely unique and singular representation made by running the sheet of paper through a printer multiple times without a calculated result in mind. Dupont plays with the conception of self in a technological age by distorting and altering the data – and therefore, his image – to highlight both the malleability and complexity of the information gathered in the body scan.
Dupont’s life-size sculptures of the human head explore similar themes of experience and memory. These are large translucent molds cast from scans of the artist’s own head that he has filled with decade-old detritus, salvaged studio materials, and found objects which are then fused into a solid by an additional pour of stable polyurethane resin. These captivating works serve as time capsules that offer a tangible perspective on the presentation and preservation of self through memory. A striking metaphor for our own minds, which are constantly cluttered with mental detritus, the particular sculpture on view at Middlebury utilizes old photographs and postcards.
Dupont will be speaking about his methods and motives in an illustrated talk on Tuesday, November 15th at 4:30 pm in the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Building, off Route 125 on the College campus. The public is cordially invited to attend.