Campus gallery opens season with show honoring passed graphic arts professor
Katie Rose McEneely
Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: Features
Order and precision guided longtime Hillsdale College Art Instructor Patric Fourshé's philosophy - and it shows in his artwork by his use of sharp lines and bold coloration.
A retrospective exhibit showcasing the digital paintings of Fourshé (1944-2008) opened on Aug. 25 in Sage Center for the Arts' Daughtrey Gallery. The exhibit runs through Sept. 14.
Fourshé worked in Hillsdale College's art department from 1997 until his death on Jan. 29. Art Department Chair Sam Knecht said he remembers him best as a designer-illustrator.
"Fourshé had limitless patience and he taught students to simplify the essence of an idea and reduce it to something uncluttered," Knecht said.
The paintings exhibit a tension between three-dimensional images and compressed objects. For example, Fourshé's digital painting "BaconNeggs" merges realistic images with iconic shapes and flat, patterned backgrounds.
"Building an image was like arranging puzzle pieces on a flat table," Knecht said of Fourshé. And Fourshé committed himself to achieving precision in his designs.
"He left very little to chance," Knecht said.
Fourshé was trained in traditional graphic design hand-processes. Although his earlier paintings were done by hand, his later work, done on a computer, reflects the changing field of graphic design.
"[Fourshe's] adaptability was impressive," said Knecht. "This was a guy who reinvented himself in his 50s," when graphic design became a primarily digital field.
The retrospective contains 29 paintings completed by Fourshé from the 1980s to just before his death.
Fourshé's work contains and expresses unlikely and whimsical imagery bordering on the obscure. Paintings range from extreme close-ups of organic subjects (a bowl of salad greens in "Untitled: Salad for the Detroit Free Press") to more abstract digital and hand-rendered paintings (a giant eye rising above the landscape in "Numinocity", the show's signature image).
The clean edges and execution of the exhibited works display Fourshé's philosophy, said Knecht: that the world is orderly or, if not, it should be.
"It's good to remember someone who had a lot of influence on the department," said a former Fourshé student, junior Mark Willard. Willard said Fourshé not only coached graphics classes, but also designed the art department's publicity posters and arranged exhibitions in Daughtrey Gallery.
Many of the paintings in the show are for sale. Smaller unframed prints of some paintings can be purchased through Fourshé's daughter Kiersten.
A retrospective exhibit showcasing the digital paintings of Fourshé (1944-2008) opened on Aug. 25 in Sage Center for the Arts' Daughtrey Gallery. The exhibit runs through Sept. 14.
Fourshé worked in Hillsdale College's art department from 1997 until his death on Jan. 29. Art Department Chair Sam Knecht said he remembers him best as a designer-illustrator.
"Fourshé had limitless patience and he taught students to simplify the essence of an idea and reduce it to something uncluttered," Knecht said.
The paintings exhibit a tension between three-dimensional images and compressed objects. For example, Fourshé's digital painting "BaconNeggs" merges realistic images with iconic shapes and flat, patterned backgrounds.
"Building an image was like arranging puzzle pieces on a flat table," Knecht said of Fourshé. And Fourshé committed himself to achieving precision in his designs.
"He left very little to chance," Knecht said.
Fourshé was trained in traditional graphic design hand-processes. Although his earlier paintings were done by hand, his later work, done on a computer, reflects the changing field of graphic design.
"[Fourshe's] adaptability was impressive," said Knecht. "This was a guy who reinvented himself in his 50s," when graphic design became a primarily digital field.
The retrospective contains 29 paintings completed by Fourshé from the 1980s to just before his death.
Fourshé's work contains and expresses unlikely and whimsical imagery bordering on the obscure. Paintings range from extreme close-ups of organic subjects (a bowl of salad greens in "Untitled: Salad for the Detroit Free Press") to more abstract digital and hand-rendered paintings (a giant eye rising above the landscape in "Numinocity", the show's signature image).
The clean edges and execution of the exhibited works display Fourshé's philosophy, said Knecht: that the world is orderly or, if not, it should be.
"It's good to remember someone who had a lot of influence on the department," said a former Fourshé student, junior Mark Willard. Willard said Fourshé not only coached graphics classes, but also designed the art department's publicity posters and arranged exhibitions in Daughtrey Gallery.
Many of the paintings in the show are for sale. Smaller unframed prints of some paintings can be purchased through Fourshé's daughter Kiersten.
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