IMPACT DIGITAL and IC LAB Make 'Dreams Come True' for Francois Rousseau and His 'ATELIER' - At Maison Europeenne De La Photographie Ville De Paris

NEW YORK, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Manhattan's IMPACT DIGITAL, the award-winning digital art studio for top tier photographers and its sister brand IC LAB, innovators of the newest advancements in archival pigment printing, have collaborated with renowned fashion and gallery photographer, Francois Rousseau. Together all three forces have seamlessly produced 70 massive, stunning, painterly prints for his much anticipated 2009 exhibit, "ATELIER" that opens on February 4 and runs until April 5, at The Maison Europeenne De La Photographie Ville De Paris.

Rousseau's ATELIER was inspired by Patrick Grainville's 1998 novel, L'Atelier du Peintre (The Painter's Studio). To Rousseau the novel painted a myth of Los Angeles and he was particularly struck by the relationship between the novel's main character, a painter and his models. He reveled how in the book they were so culturally diverse. Rousseau, with the help of a large bevy of varied artisans, dancers and models, brought the novel to life with Los Angeles as the backdrop and highlighted the magnificent and various physiques.

"Grainville's novel tells the passionate and tragic story of a European master painter who fled France to start a painting studio in L.A.'s infamous Venice Beach. The studio became a creative haven and home for students who were once delinquents. A rare community evolved and thrived in his studio where the women lived among women and the men with men," states Mr. Rousseau.

Of course Rousseau was drawn to Grainville's story but the book also served as a guide for his project which comprises a staggering 86 large format pieces, compositions, and nudes. Understanding the composition of his images as a painter, Rousseau wanted the utmost care and attention given to the production of each final print.

Rousseau notes, "I have been working on this vital body of work since 2004, for The Maison Europeenne De La Photographie, the most prestigious photography venue in Paris. The complex compositions and frescos had to be perfectly executed with specialized high-end digital postproduction and flawless techniques, and those qualities I knew were only obtainable at IMPACT DIGITAL and IC LAB in New York."

Rousseau had worked on successful commercial and fine art collaborations with IMPACT DIGITAL and IC LAB prior to "ATELIER," such as Showtime's The TUDORS ad campaign, countless fashion editorials, and his "AMOR CAUSA" exhibition at The Ogilvy & Mather Gallery in June 2008. When it came time to retouch and print his work for "ATELIER," he had no doubt that he would use both services again.

"All my images are large-framed 'photographic paintings' so I wanted to be as thorough and true to the work as possible. My models are actual painters, musicians, dancers and I photographed them with the most accurate cameras with negatives. I used a 20 x 25 large format camera and artificial lighting," says Rousseau.

The always-inventive Chris Ewers, Director of IC LAB chose a Baryta paper for the massive figurative prints. Rousseau was so impressed by the beauty of them he decided to show those prints at Maison Europeenne De La Photographie Ville De Paris without glass. In the end IC LAB once again ushered in a distinctive new way for Rousseau and others to exhibit large format photography.

"Working with Francois has again been an amazing experience," says Chris. "The ATELIER project offered us a very unique approach to fine art printing as we had the benefit of being intimately involved in the process from the beginning. Working in collaboration with our sister company IMPACT DIGITAL we were able to have far greater control over the image, which ultimately made for the finest possible prints. Francois' work is beautiful and these prints are perfect complements to it."

With 86 compositions shot large format (8x10 and 4x5) mainly on KODAK Portra 160NC, it was imperative that Rousseau's final images embodied the full tonal range, depth and detail of the large format negatives. IC LAB drew out the finest details and their drum scans of Rousseau's work were rich, crisp, saturated and made a perfect foundation for IMPACT DIGITAL to work from.

Rousseau explains, "This project draws from a large spectrum of photographic and paintings influences, some pieces are pure portraits on a white backdrop and some are very large compositions that are made up of many different scans. IMPACT DIGITAL's master retoucher David Moran did an amazing job, I think what he did is beyond retouching and was more of an artistic collaboration. My pictures tell a story and all are very different; it is like a movie with scenes, but now, thanks to David, the series is coherent because he has two main qualities: he is in total control of the latest digital technology and he has an intuitive artistic point of view on the entire project; he understood perfectly what I was looking for. That is rare quality today to be able to combine both."

Rousseau says about the entire process, which took 3 months and 6 expert printers and retouchers to complete, "It was a real challenge to mix the different techniques of traditional and digital photography and maintain a high level of quality. The three vital steps required, scanning of negatives, retouching, and printing, IC LAB and IMPACT DIGITAL made all three of these steps stunning. Since the beginning of my career I have never worked with such a talented, professional, involved team, everything rested in their skilled hands. Steve Kalalian and his companies, IC LAB and IMPACT DIGITAL, are true innovators in the industry; they created special profiles for me, provided customized scanning and printing. Every one of my pictures came to life in the very best way I could imagine. I have never seen my work so well retouched and printed. I think 'ATELIER' is now the exact project I was dreaming of four years ago and I achieved my dream thanks to IMPACT DIGITAL and IC LAB."

About: Francois Rousseau / www.francoisrousseau.com

Born in 1967 in Auvergne, France, he began his photography career in 1995 after 10 years of painting. He lives and works between Paris and New York and has been commissioned by numerous magazines in Europe, US, and Asia. His commercial work includes images for L'Oreal, Ikea, American Express, Air France, Showtime and Visa. Currently he alternates between commercials, fashion photography and art photography. He also manages a photo workshop at the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing, China and is working on a book about movement and dance.

About: IMPACT DIGITAL / www.impactdigital.com

IMPACT DIGITAL embraces a wide range of projects ranging from high profile international campaigns to the experimental work of individual photographers. The award-winning team of 30 top retouchers, CGI artists and production experts focus on achieving the vision and brand identity of their clients' projects. Working as an art studio with extensive production capacity, IMPACT DIGITAL is able to achieve exceptional quality and consistency on large projects and demanding turnarounds. Partial client list: Grey Worldwide, Ogilvy, J.Walter Thompson, Publicis, Saatchi & Saatchi, TBWA/ChiatDay McCann Worldgroup, DDB, Estee Lauder, L'Oreal, Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, Armani Exchange, Hermes, Nike, Rolex and Tommy Hilfiger, Vogue, Bazaar and Allure

About: IC LAB / www.industrialcolor.com/iclab

IC LAB launched in early 2008 and extends Industrial Color's values of innovation and excellence to next generation digital postproduction services. IC LAB's expert services empower photographers and clients with the essential resources and expertise to optimize commercial and fine art photographic expression. IC LAB services span digital pigment printing, drum scanning, color consultation, metadata and archive management and data recovery.

About: IC LAB MasterPrints(TM) reflect the newest advancements in archival

pigment printing that provide extensive latitude, wide color gamut and tonal range on a variety of fine art papers and photographic stocks. The MasterPrints(TM) B&W process features monochromatic, custom toned pigments that represent the truest shadow detail, genuine gradations and subtle highlights enabling finer creative expression in archival digital print making.