For this exhibition the Serpentine Gallery is working closely with the artist to realise an ambitious exhibition and series of screenings focusing on the artist's most recent film Drawing Restraint 9, 2005. The exhibition will also include works from each of the Drawing Restraint series from 1 through to 15.The artist's practice encompasses a diverse array of media including drawing, sculpture, performance, film and installation, which are presented in exhibitions that are conceived by the artist as a gesamtkunstwerk or total work.
Solo show
Matthew Barney is one of the most celebrated artists of his generation. Born in San Francisco in 1967, Barney studied Fine Art at Yale University in the late 1980s and on graduating and entering the art world, his controversial and challenging work quickly received critical acclaim.
Barney’s practice encompasses a diverse array of media including drawing, sculpture, performance, film and installation, which are presented in exhibitions that are conceived by the artist as a gesamtkunstwerk or total work.
Barney is perhaps best known for the Cremaster cycle, a series of five feature-length films, produced from 1994–2002. Epic in scope, the series combines high production values with spectacular locations, props and costumes. This parallel mythological world is rich and complex in its symbolism.
For this exhibition the Serpentine Gallery is working closely with the artist to realise an ambitious exhibition and series of screenings focusing on Matthew Barney’s most recent film DRAWING RESTRAINT 9, 2005. The exhibition will also include works from each of the Drawing Restraint series from 1 through to 15.
Barney was awarded the Hugo Boss Prize in 1996 and has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions in the USA and internationally. The complete Cremaster cycle was the subject of a major exhibition organised by the Solomon R Guggnheim Museum, New York in 2002 that travelled to Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany and Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris. More recently, the Drawing Restraint series has been presented in different incarnations at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan; Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, both in 2005; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2006.
Image: © Matthew Barney
DRAWING RESTRAINT 9 2005 Production still Courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York Photograph: Chris Winget
Serpentine Gallery
Kensington Gardens - London
Admission free