The Lisson Gallery is mounting “The Fallout of Living”, a rich and entirely new body of work by Ryan Gander. In his second solo exhibition at Lisson Gallery, Gander continues to explore layered systems of meaning through his simultaneously playful and deeply conceptual practice.
The Fallout of Living sees Gander reach new levels as a masterful visual storyteller, while taking an introspective direction in his work. The title of the exhibition refers to the fallout from the moment in an artist’s life when, having become so fluent in visual language, their life and practice have become indistinguishable. This innate creativity infiltrates, and is inextricable from, all aspects of daily life, every decision (down to the clothes you wear, the food you eat, the placement of objects in your home) becomes creative and aesthetic.
The idea of invisibility and being hidden recurs throughout the show. The viewer is eluded and obstructed at every turn. Kodak Courage (2012) playfully subverts the purpose of a display case by turning opaque as the viewer approaches, frustratingly censoring its contents.
Loose association is a continuing concern in Gander’s work, exemplified in The Way Things Collide (Condom, Meet USM Cabinet) (2012). He extracts disparate objects from the monotony of daily life and forces an otherwise non-existing relationship. Gander describes a magic that forms in the space between the two elements that is formed in our imagination, as the human brain instinctively struggles to find an alliance between two seemingly incongruent items sculpted from one material.
Aside from being called upon to discover obscure relationships, the viewer’s imagination, or even movement, is often essential to the work. Magnus Opus (2012) sees Gander add animatronics to his already expansive multimedia repertoire, which includes sculpture, architecture, design, lecturing, television scripts, children’s books, ceramics, curating, and writing. An oversized pair of cartoon eyes set in the gallery wall reacts to the viewer’s movements, turning the observer into the observed.
Ryan Gander (b. 1976) lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions include Ryan Gander: Lost in my own recursive narrative, Greco, Napoli (2012); The Magnificent Seven, CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco, (2009-2012); gb agency, Paris (2012); Intervals, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2011); Exhibition Exhibition, Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2011); and Resonance, Suntory Museum, Osaka(2010).
Ryan Gander is one of seven international artists who have, over a three-year period, been integrated into every aspect of CCA Wattis’ structure and activities in San Francisco. This has involved his recent solo exhibition in CCA Wattis, ‘The Magnificent Seven, as well as teaching a number of courses as a CCA faculty member. In 2011, Gander was commissioned by Artangel to create Locked Room Scenario. In the same year he was included in ILLUMInations at the 54th Venice Biennale in Italy and the Yokohama Triennale in Japan.
In 2005 Gander was short listed for the British art prize ‘Becks Futures’ and won the Baloise Art Statement Prize at Art Basel. Gander was awarded the ABN AMRO prize of the Netherlands in 2006 and the Paul Hamlyn Award for Visual Arts in 2007. He is also the recipient of the 2009 Zürich Art Prize.