Stage Back Shanghai #310, 3F, building 11, 696 Weihai Lu (Shaanxi Nan Lu) Shanghai, China 200042 中国上海市威海路696号3楼310室(靠近陕西南路) Chine
Thomas Rusch, Paris and Hamburg based photo artist, is showing BEHIND. It is a series of portaits - although the identities of the portrayed subjects are unrecognizable behind make-up, texture and material.
By overlapping different layers Thomas Rusch evokes an irritating intensity of emotions. Masks are used to protect or hide but masks can also work as an intensifier or converter. As an interface between inside and outside they enhance the possibility of increasing expression or emotions. And in many situations a mask is the medium to cross borders.
Masks have their seeds in rituals. Since prehistoric times they are used for the rites of passage. They are the companion for an African boy who is about to become a man, for the shamen's trance as well as for the body's last journey. In ancient Greek theatre masks were used to intensify the actor's expression, in Beijing Opera the characters and attitudes of the protagonists are encoded in mask and colour.
With BEHIND Thomas Rusch shows us archetypes of emotions: dissolution, fear, delight, anger, lust, grief, spirituality.
