Artists Space

Jean Maurice n'est pas rentre

September 19 – October 17, 1981

"Jean-Maurice Isn't Home Yet" is the title of the film from which visual artist PHILIPPE DEMONTAUT derives his exhibition of drawings and life-sized, cardboard sets. The narrative structure of the film is simple: as they have done many times before, Mr. and Mrs. Robinet wait for their son, Jean-Maurice, to return home. While going through the everyday motions of their lives, they wonder about him and project an imaginary future for him. At the end of the film, the cardboard sets collapse, coinciding with the collapse of the parents' dreams. At times, the film tells a banal story in comic book style, at other times it tells it through the device of a cardboard television set with animated drawings of TV programs. The couple's ideas are always influenced by the magazine, radio and television media surrounding them. The 16mm, 35-min. film will be shown during the run of the show.

PHILIPPE DEMONTAUT is French and makes New York his home. DEMONTAUT participated in last year's Times Square Show.

Programming at Artists Space is partially supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.