No.10 is pleased to announce the first New York solo show of French American artist, writer and creative director, Lisa Rovner. Through her expansive work in film, photography, performance and the written word, Rovner's work reflects a clear engagement with historical precedents and predecessors, and a desire to confront History with her story.
Heavily influenced by Roland Barthes' 'The Death of the Author', Rovner's work explores the continual re-interpretation of image and text in our cultural and artistic landscape. "The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author," Barthes wrote. Rovner agrees, meaning should no longer be deemed the unique revelatory thought of any individual but instead, be understood as something open to constant reinterpretation according to the context in which it is encountered Images "gleened" off of YouTube and recreated as 'advertisements' walk a fine line between homage, memorial and ad. In a filmed self-portrait, she twirls in the snow until she falls. The world makes her dizzy. There is no escape from society's demands and expectations. In a series of prints on paper entitled "Significant Figures," screenshots echo David Salle and James Welling's seminal essay, "Images that understand us". In Rovner's newest work, 'Abstract Expressionism', shot in HD, a visual departure from much of her earlier work, a young woman listens to something, someone, through a wall with only her expressions to guide us. Rovner's work initiates the viewer to engage as an active participant rather than merely a consumer. The works presented are strung together by Rovner's aspiration to transform politics and philosophy into cinematographic spectacle.
Lisa Rovner was born in 1979 in Silver Spring Maryland. Through her work in various disciplines, Rovner has collaborated with some of the most internationally respected artists and brands including Pierre Huyghe, Liam Gillick, Sebastien Tellier, Opening Ceremony, Maison Martin Margiela and Acne. Her work has been presented at the FIAC Art Fair, Art Basel Switzerland, the Paris Film Festival, the Anthology Film Archives, the Center for Contemporary Art Santa Monica, Barcelona, FRAC Museum, Normandy, The Grand Palais, Paris and the Bruce High Quality Foundation Brucennial in 2010. This summer her latest film, 'Abstract Expressionism' will be screened On the Big Screen Plaza in New York. She is a regular contributor to Acne Paper. Her company, Message is the Medium, specializes in creative consulting. Rovner holds degrees in Political Science from both McGill University in Montreal and L'Institut d'Etudes Politiques et Sociales in Paris. This is her first solo show in New York.
http://www.nowness.com/day/2011/7/5/1529/dirty-pretty-things