For
his first solo exhibition in New York in nearly ten years, British conceptual
artist Ryan Gander presents a new body of work that considers the psychology of
the body and questions the possibilities and limitations of figuration. A
master storyteller, Gander’s complex yet playful practice is characterised by
allusion, where focal points are teasingly hidden and meaning is subtly implied. Stimulated by existential queries and
investigations into what-ifs, each one of his artworks acts as a vessel to tell
a new story, all collectively fitting into an overarching narrative where
fictions and realities collide. Mirrors with no reflection, bodiless eyes,
faceless men and a self-portrait in constant motion combine to reflect Gander’s
interest in the dialectics of self-awareness and the barriers to understanding.
Read moreFlirtatious, cartoonish eyes follow
visitors around the exhibition. Embedded not on a face but a blank wall, the
eyes are animatronic, connected to motion sensors activated by movement in the
room. With long, seductive lashes and coyly raised eyebrows, the work is the female
counterpart to Gander’s Magnus Opus
(2013), one of the artist’s most popular works to date. Dominae Illud Opus
Populare (2016), on show at Lisson Gallery for the first time, has been
programmed to generate every expression that can be registered through one’s
eyes, from boredom and worry to curiosity and surprise. Expression is further
explored through a new series of sculptures: life-size armatures of artist
models in dramatic postures, arranged strategically within the gallery’s
expansive exhibition space. Positioned in a number of evocative gestures – one redundantly
and despondently sitting alone, another holding a broken and limp model of
itself – the works convey a range of melancholic emotions through limbs alone. Faces
are brass rectangles, purposefully blank to illustrate the possibility of
gesture as a form of emotion.
Motifs of sight and visibility appear
in a series of recent sculptures by the artist that consist of stately mirrors
over which marble dust sheets have been draped. With reflections obscured from
view, the works’ impenetrability frustrates viewers and starkly reveals the
barriers inherent to self-realisation. A walled-off installation, housed within
a purpose-built space at the centre of the gallery, contains different objects
that glide momentarily past on a moving conveyor belt. Visible only through a
small aperture on the wall, the work expands on Gander’s ambitious project Fieldwork, adding 32 new items that have
been crafted or drawn from the artist’s personal collection. The installation
acts as a self-portrait, showcasing the internal workings of the artist’s mind,
and is accompanied by a book that includes descriptive entries and essays on
the phenomenology of each object that has appeared in both presentations of the
work.
