Jean-Luc Moulene: Opus + One

This bold monograph from Raymond, curator of the Dia Art Foundation, presents Moul%C3%A8ne to a broad United States audience for the first time. Based in Paris, he first rose to the attention of French (and some international) art critics in the 1980s, and his reputation since has remained largely reliant on his photographic work and European contexts. Both the exhibition (at Dia:Beacon) and this accompanying book expand into Moul%C3%A8ne's three-dimensional work%E2%80%94the objects he titles his "Opus"%E2%80%94 while still giving space to the photographic inquiries that initially made his career. That Moul%C3%A8ne's work is influenced by a heavily theoretical bent is evident in the equally academic (and playfully innovative) essays accompanying the images. Explicative without being didactic, they highlight the philosophical undercurrents that connect his objects and photographs; pieces like his seven-year-long photo study of a single weed seem entirely in line with "Body", a large, sleek vessel manufactured by automotive engineers and painted in rich primary colors. His lingering theoretical interests in the body, the production of objects, and bifurcation are all stimulating. However, it is the images themselves, deceptively simple and beguiling, that distinguish the text and announce Moul%C3%A8ne as a significant force in contemporary art. Color illustrations. (Mar.)