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12/2/2004

Douglas Gordon

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington

The Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden will serve as the exclusive East Coast venue for the first North American survey of works by Scottish artist Douglas Gordon (b. 1966, Glasgow, Scotland). On view from Feb. 12 through May 9, the exhibition ''Douglas Gordon'' will include large-scale projected video installations, text pieces, still photographs and filmed images on video monitors created by the artist from 1993 to 2002. A highlight of the D.C. installation will be the artist's recent work ''Play Dead: Real Time'' (2002), which makes its U.S. museum debut at the Hirshhorn.

''As a forum for leading international contemporary art, the Hirshhorn is very pleased to showcase a significant, provocative young artist like Douglas Gordon,'' museum Director Ned Rifkin, says. ''Gordon's work deals with a number of universal themes including trust, guilt, good, evil, confession and deception, prompting visceral reactions from viewers. We look forward to introducing American audiences to this challenging and thoughtful body of work.''

Best known for his film and video installations that draw upon classic Hollywood movies, Gordon, 37, studied at The Glasgow School of Art and The Slade School of Fine Art, London. His performance-oriented collaborations became the focus of the Glasgow art scene during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Gordon's work drew international attention with his 1993 piece ''24 Hour Psycho,'' in which a radically slowed version of Alfred Hitchcock's film is projected on a suspended screen.

Darkness and light, the tension between good and evil, and doppelgaenger imagery are key to Gordon's conceptual approach. Best known for projected video installations that ''sculpt'' time, Gordon often alters existing source material to explore memory, perception and ideas about the human condition.

As in ''24 Hour Psycho,'' much of Gordon's work mines popular culture and alters existing sources -- from movies like ''Rear Window,'' ''The Exorcist'' and ''Taxi Driver,'' to obscure documentary footage -- to challenge perceptions and recast viewers' expectations. The artist has received three of the most esteemed international accolades in contemporary art: the Guggenheim Museum's Hugo Boss Prize (1998), the Tate's Turner Prize (1996) and the Venice Biennale Premio (1997).

A series of public programs will accompany the show, including ''24 Hour Access: 24 Hour Psycho,'' Feb. 28 - Feb. 29. Inspired by Gordon's seminal video piece ''24 Hour Psycho,'' this event will feature 24 consecutive hours of free access to the exhibition and conclude with a ''Meet the Artist'' interview conducted by Hirshhorn Director of Art and Programs and Chief Curator Kerry Brougher.

''Douglas Gordon'' has been organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and was curated by Russell Ferguson, deputy director for exhibitions and programs and chief curator at the University of California, Los Angeles, Hammer Museum and former associate curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The Hirshhorn presentation has been organized by Kerry Brougher and Associate Curator Kelly Gordon.

''In his relatively short but high-profile career, Douglas Gordon has created compelling, original work that turns the familiar into dark, humorous explorations of the contemporary psyche,'' Brougher says. ''This show underscores the Hirshhorn's commitment to presenting important young artists who are affecting and influencing the direction of art.''


HOURS
Open daily except December 25
Museum: 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. (EST) Plaza: 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Sculpture Garden: 7:30 a.m.

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