The Chrysler Museum of Art Unveils Jean-Christian Bourcart’s Stardust

May 16—August 5, 2007

Imagine what the world must look like through the eyes of an infant. With only a camera and a little ingenuity, world-renowned photographer Jean-Christian Bourcart does just that and much more by capturing the essence of innocence in his newest exhibition, Stardust, now available for public viewing through August 5, 2007 at the Chrysler Museum of Art. The Chrysler Museum will host a special lecture by Jean-Christian Bourcart on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 at 7 p.m., at which Bourcart will discuss his career and achievements as a photographer.

This unique exhibition features a collection of chromomeric photographs (produced from negatives) that mirror what newborns may be seeing when their parents are bending over their cribs, resembling images in a dream sequence. Each photograph, taken from popular American movies such as Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Casino Royale, is a mosaic blur of colors and shapes that forces audiences to rely solely on their imaginations to recognize what would otherwise be considered familiar.

“Jean-Christian Bourcart looks at the cinema in a new and unexpected way. He turns the big budget movies of the film industry into abstractions, making them unrecognizable, yet, intriguing. This is no small feat, and it is what the best photographers do; show us a new way of looking at our familiar world,” says Brooks Johnson, the Chrysler’s Curator of Photography and 21st–Century Art.

The exhibition also includes an exciting educational video component that further explains the complexity and brilliance behind Bourcart’s photography and the uncanny methods he uses to acquire the most shocking photographs.

Bourcart artistically tampers with the concept of illusion and strips each photograph of its sharpness and clarity, reducing it to an accumulation of dust particles settled on the faint shadows of celebrities projected onto a glowing glass portal. To acquire these odd images, Bourcart strategically set up his camera in front of the small window that separates the projection room of a movie theater from the public space. While the beam of light from the projector flowed through this window, Bourcart positioned the camera outside of it and captured the small universe of dust particles and bright stains of light reflected off the glass. Through this process, Stardust was born.

Stardust is the newest addition to Bourcart’s impressive repertoire. He has spent much of his career as a photographer, but has also worked in film. Bourcart is best known for his fascinating invasive style, capturing unsuspecting subjects in forbidden and unusual surroundings such as traffic jams, S&M swingers clubs and even in brothels. His photography goes beyond the mere beauty of an image and plays with layers of meaning, further exploring what constitutes an image: a significant surface that provides space for interpretation.

Jean-Christian Bourcart (French, 1960), Untitled # 55, Courtesy of the Andrea Meislin Gallery

For general information, please call (757) 664-6200. For media information, please contact the Office of Communications at (757) 333-6295 or communications@chrysler.org.