Artist Richard Dupont’s Works on View at Middlebury College Museum of Art

“Four Works by New York Artist Richard DuPont”
through December 11, 2011

For immediate release: 10/31/11
For further information contact: Emmie Donadio, Chief Curator, (802) 443-2240 or donadio@middlebury.edu

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 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 uses old photographs and postcards to present its message.

Dupont will be speaking about his methods and motives in a free illustrated talk on Tuesday, November 15th at 4:30 p.m. in Room 125 of the Mahaney Center for the Arts (*note location change) on the College campus. The talk is co-sponsored by the Museum and the Program in Studio Art. Light refreshments will be served.

The Middlebury College Museum of Art, located in the Mahaney Center for the Arts on Rte. 30 on the southern edge of campus, is free and open to the public Tues. through Fri. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sat. and Sun. from noon to 5 p.m. It is closed Mondays. The Museum is physically accessible. Parking is available in the Center for the Arts parking lot. For further information, please call (802) 443–5007 or TTY (802) 443–3155, or visit the Museum’s website at museum.middlebury.edu.