All is Not Forgotten 2019
All is Not Forgotten uses an old house fa ade that was carefully dismantled and then rebuilt in the artist 8217 s studio The...
Description
All is Not Forgotten uses an old house façade that was carefully dismantled and then rebuilt in the artist’s studio. The house façade is erected at a 25 degree angle in the back of the gallery and only visible through a large viewing window in the front of the gallery. The space between the window and façade is covered with soil, suggesting that the house has been buried in the gallery. To the left of the viewing window there is an entrance to a hallway that leads to the back of the gallery. When traveling down the hallway the house is not visible. At the end of the hallway there is another viewing window that is attached to a small simulated attic room. The viewer can not enter the room but only peer through the window. There also are two tunnel openings in the hallway. The tunnels lead to visual experiences that enhance the understanding of the house.
The installation is about the story of a house and its inhabitants. The memory of something that can only be found in parts. The viewer can never see the whole picture at once but must piece together the information they receive.
Patrick Robideau uses architecture and space as devices through which to explore issues of memory and its emotional residue. Carefully and methodically constructed, Robideau’s forms often combine a seductive material allure that attracts the viewer with a physical construction that keeps the viewer at a certain distance. In the way, the work often replicates the process of a memory that draws us in but can only be partially accessed. And while his works often feature architectural constructions, they are less specific locales and more like the terrain of half remembered dreams.
Robideau was born in Orlando, FL in 1965 and received his BFA from Purchase College, State University of New York. His work has been exhibited widely in Western New York and beyond, including at the Burchfield Penney Art Center; Spaces, Cleveland OH; the Carnegie Art Center, Tonawanda, NY; the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University; and the University at Buffalo Art Gallery. His work is part of several collections, both public and private, including the Burchfield Penney Art Center and the Castellani Art Museum.