calendario eventi  :: 

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22/6/2010

Two exhibitions

Lisson Gallery, London

Rodney Graham
Painter, Poet, Lighthouse Keeper

Painter, Poet, Lighthouse Keeper presents a series of new works, created by Rodney Graham specifically for Lisson Gallery. One of the most original and influential artists of his generation, Graham has constructed a complex and articulate practice operating through systems of quotation, reference, adaptation and inscription from other works or authors. Here the artist draws from sources as diverse as structural film, Mallarmé's poetry, British zombie movies, and 19th century French military painting to create a kaleidoscopic exhibition combining works in photography, film and painting.

The light box, Lighthouse Keeper With Lighthouse Model, 1955, depicts the golden age of the hobbyist, at a time when automation was rendering the work of lighthouse keepers redundant. With increased time on his hands, the lighthouse keeper devotes himself to creative, leisurely activities, such as poetry and model making. The lighthouse keeper is seen in profile, reading a book in front of a model of a lighthouse and warming his feet in a wood stove. Closer inspection reveals that the lighthouse model is a replica of the Minot's Ledge lighthouse, which was used on the buttons and insignia of the US Lighthouse Service and which also appears on a uniform and hat within the image. The book Graham is reading is a book on lighthouses, lying open on a page showing part of the illustration which served as inspiration for the work. The multiple and repeated layers of imagery serve to condense into one single frame a narrative that goes beyond the immediate set piece.

The nautical theme of the light box is continued in To the Tattooist, a deluxe vanity press edition of a poem addressed to a tattoo artist. The poem describes a proposed tattoo for Rodney Graham's back in a layout inspired by the typographic innovations of Mallarmé's Coup de Des.

Artist's Model Posing For 'The Old Bugler, Among the Fallen, Battle of Beaune-Roland, 1870' In The Studio Of An Unknown Military Painter, Paris, 1885, was inspired by a book plate Graham found illustrating the French painter Alphonse de Neuville in his studio in Paris, c.1880. The painter stands at his easel, gazing down at the subject of his unseen painting - a male model in the uniform of a National Guard infantryman lying prostate on the floor. Graham takes on the role of the model seen from the viewpoint of the artist – unseen and displaced from the image – thus coinciding with the point of view of the viewer. Graham here explores the relationship French artists had to the disastrous Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871); many young artists, including the promising impressionist painter Jean Frederic Bazille, died at the battle of Beaune- Rolande in 1870, whilst de Neuville built his reputation on his ability to create a heroic iconography associated with the campaign.

Good Hand Bad Hand, 2010 is a set of two light-boxes showing Graham at a gambling table, cards in hand. The two images present only minor differences, akin to what in a game of poker is termed a 'tell', a subtle change in behaviour or expression which might give away the game; the character played by the artist is both revealed and hidden at the same time.

Two large-scale multi-part paintings occupy the main gallery space. Psychomania Variation 1 and Psychomania Variation 11 draw inspiration from the 1971 eponymous British film, in which a biker gang defies death by signing a pact with the devil. This low-budget zombie biker movie is also George Sanders' last performance before he committed suicide leaving the famous suicide note "Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored." Fascinated by the two multi-panel wall reliefs which decorate the gang leader's hyper-modernist mansion, Graham experiments with the deconstruction and decoding of the language of abstraction, reconfiguring the composition of the original paintings whilst maintaining a basic vocabulary of form. A scale model of the interior of Lisson Gallery featuring the paintings and two monitors showing a key scene from the film complete the installation.

The Green Cinematograph (Programme 1: Pipe Smoker and Overflowing Sink) acts as a counterpoint to the psychedelic references of the abstract Psychomania paintings. Projected from a bright green 16mm film projector, the black & white film displays two apparently disconnected scenes. In one Graham sits on an arm-chair smoking a pipe whilst in the other a sink overflows with foam which slowly but steadily expands creating unexpected sculptural forms before spilling onto the floor. Deceptively simple, the film is an exploration of the Kuleshov effect, an editing technique by which the viewer creates a connection between two seemingly unrelated scenes.

About the Artist:
Through the Forest, a retrospective of Rodney Graham's works from 1986-2009 is currently on view at the Kunstmuseum, Basel. The exhibition is a co-production with MACBA, Barcelona and the Hamburger Kunsthalle, where it will travel later in the year. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue. Other recent solo exhibitions include the Jeu de Paume, Paris; Sprengel Museum, Hannover (where he was the recipient of the Kurt Schwitters Prize), and the BAWAG Foundation in Vienna, Austria. Recent group exhibitions include 'Little Theatre of Gestures', Malmö Kunsthall, Sweden and Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel, 'The Cinema Effect', The Hirshorn Museum, Washington, D.C.; the Yokohama Triennale, Syndey Biennale and Liverpool Biennial. Graham lives and works in Vancouver.

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Jonathan Monk and Douglas Gordon
Double Act Repeated

Lisson Gallery is proud to present a new exhibition by Jonathan Monk and Douglas Gordon. Double Act Repeated is conceived as a collaborative project and comprises four films, an opening-night performance and a series of new works created especially for this exhibition. Monk and Gordon share an interest in exploring the creative act as an intuitive and conceptual process, rooted in Conceptual Art. As friends they share a passion for found images, football, word-play and the belief that the best ideas are generated around the dining table.

The Sublimation of Desire, 2008 are four films which record the change of state of a bottle of beer, a glass of champagne, a mug of tea and a cup of coffee from cold to warm and from hot to cold. The films are the re-make of an hour-long video the artists shot in the mid 90s on a very hot afternoon in Budapest of a cold beer getting warm. Again, at the end of the 90s, on an ice-cold morning in Shwaz, Austria, they documented a hot mug of tea becoming tepid. The original video tapes are now lost and the artists decided to re-create these moments on 16mm film. Set on a loop, the static images are obsessive recordings of the elapsing of time and minute observations of subtle changes in state and relentless images of the sublimation of desire: cold beer becomes warm, champagne bubbles go flat, steaming coffee and hot tea become undrinkable.

The artists move effortlessly between formats: in the lower level gallery Monk and Gordon present a series of new works which reference the Two Ronnies (Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett), a British sketch show the artists share fond childhood memories of. The logo for the programme, two pairs of spectacles, is multiplied and presented in variations of scale and material. The sculptures, affixed or simply leaning against the walls, are a celebration of the double act – incidentally both artists also wear glasses. As the films act as a visible transcription of the passing of time, so the sculptures represent a material translation of an idea, something the artists have also explored in numerous neon works, where neon transcriptions are intermittently lit in correspondence to actions or experiences that the two artists have performed together or simultaneously in different places, thus recreating the substance of the act as duration.

For the opening night Friends Electric Bar, will see Gordon and Monk hosting a temporary bar in the gallery, sharing their favourite drinks and music with the visitors to the show.

About the artists:
Jonathan Monk (1969, Leicester) and Douglas Gordon (1966, Glasgow) met for the first time in 1990 in Glasgow, where they both studied fine art, possibly back-stage at a Miles Davis concert or while watching England lose to Germany on penalties.
The films formed the basis of an exhibition at the Fondazione Morra Greco in Naples in 2009 and are presented in London for the first time.

Lisson Gallery
52-54 Bell Street London, NW1 5DA
Hours:
Monday - Friday 10am - 6pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm

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