It is interesting to speculate which person Rouse had in mind when he titled his exhibition 'Haunted by a Painter's Ghost'; Magritte, Dali and Escher are all apparent - not to mention darkroom master compositor Hag. But while it may be nice to imagine that Rouse's pictures were also produced by the action of light and shade rather than pixels, any such discussion is in truth irrelevant. The only important question is the same in both cases: "How exactly did you create such masterpieces?" The answer will be revealed shortly, when BJP publishes an in-depth interview with Rouse.
Until then, go see the show and marvel at the work. Or maybe just feel slightly disturbed by it all.
The Buenos Aires Herald
Snout in the wind, the neck extended to better feel the scent of the air , imperceptibly tilting his head in the direction of the spiralling leaf, he at once lept, pouncing upon his prey that never knew it had been caught. He then took it to his lair, and as careful as a lover who caresses the neck of a fawn, placed it next to his other captures and reurned to the forest, where crouching without haste, he awaited the moan of a branch. Only when he no longer felt the urge of hunger did he return to his cave, and the light that flickered from his gnarled candle revealed all of his treasures. One after the other they shone in the light , and every page, every image, rose and intertwined with the garland of fire.
Black and White Magazine
Drawing for inspiration upon the writings of poets, lyricists and philosophers, Rouse examines the themes of lost love and innocence, the imperatives of religion and ideology and the search for meaning within the constraints of societal convention and human relationships. Rouse is particularly fascinated with images of children and childhood, describing them as "disturbing premonitions of ourselves."
An interview with FotoRevista (Espanol) ..... here
Focus News Carmel CPA
Dominic takes us down many roads of his imagination. Thay are not well lit and are seemingly steped in a dark past with personal issues too numerous to mention. The work is open and honest with an elegant use of technology smoothly merging with the creative flow from an artist of the 21st century.
Digital Photo Art
When we published some of Dominic Rouse's images in a recent issue of Photo Art International we had a distraught phone call from one reader who felt the need to express his vehement objection. This took us by surprise, because we had seen these surreal images as entertaining, visually dramatic, witty and technically highly accomplished There is however a macabre element to some of them and maybe it was this that unintentionally touched a nerve.
"When I began to use a camera, it was to record the world around me. Now, I use it to create my own.
If you were to ask me who would be the most interesting man to know, I should answer "I will be." Perhaps you think me deranged but it is my belief that each human being is uniquely different and the search for that uniqueness is life's journey: its reward is the revelation of that facet of existence reserved exclusively for us.
Art is sometimes defined as the search for Truth and Beauty. Truth is a deeply personal concept and the search for it is pathless. It cannot be given form and any attempt to do so results in its demolition. Truth is unable to survive knowledge because knowledge is a desire of the intellect and the intellect is itself a conceit and thus deceptive.
An artist sets out to reveal the truth but he soon discovers that there is no such thing. We can only give our honest impressions of the lies which is the closest we have to a truth. An artist who is only interested in the truth will soon find himself unemployed. Language is the limit of our understanding, Art is not."
A critique of 'Once a Catholic'
Sexuality and its repression in the guise of the image beholds the viewer, even if he fails to recognise it. Essentially repressed. Although the female body first appears sterile, the objectification of the female (inner) form is revealing. It is a lapse, a shadow which reveals where the original light does not shine, into the consciousness of the photographer, and so elegantly expressed.
A critical analysis of 'Hang'er'
In discerning the difference between man and woman, and their struggle for union - or rupture - the sensual dimension is expelled from this image. "Woman is substance, and man is reflection" - an aphorism from the Seducers Diary. What does this mean to modern ears?
An historical perspective from Professor Victor H Carroll
One thing the photographs all have in common and that is impeccable craft. Many of the pictures had their genesis in drawings made years ago and the images are constructed more like sculptural works or films than photographs. Rouse often builds sets for his fantasies (and destroys them after the photograph is realised) and each image requires numerous sessions which later are digitally combined on a computer. The final image is then outputted as a film negative which in turn is printed onto fibre-based photographic paper. Finally, the resulting silver print is bathed in toners which gives the prints their warm colour.
That journey from inspiration to highly crafted reality gives these exquisite images a gravitas that belies the lightness of their touch. In a way, as they move from a theatrical set to a computer to a chemically developed silver print these pictures traverse the history of photography itself. But more important to the photographer, and perhaps for his viewers too, is the internal journey we make through the vivid imagination of a skilled artist, Dominic Rouse.