Rodney Graham: Central Questions of Philosophy

Rodney Graham Lisson Gallery

Rodney Graham’s exhibition at Lisson Gallery London presents his first new body of lightboxes following the largest presentation of his work in this format last year at Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden, Germany and Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar, Netherlands. Since creating his first lightbox in 2007, Graham has evolved these works into a larger, more complex series that encompasses various aspects of his artistic practice, such as photography, sculpture and painting. Staged down to the finest of details – from the decoration and soft furnishings to the positioning of the central figure – the works are essentially stage sets for an accumulation of multi-layered fictions, with Graham consistently playing the starring role. Weaving together various subjects, and sprinkled with anecdotal art historical and pop culture references, the works not only comment on the mechanics of image and image-making through Graham’s intricate process but are also employed as a vehicle to examine the epistemology of perception.

Graham’s exhibition at Lisson Gallery features his largest lightbox to date, a four-panel piece featuring a 1940s gallery set loosely based on a photograph of Samuel Kootz. One of the first New York art dealers to champion Abstract Expressionist art, Kootz is shown smugly smoking a pipe in his apartment-turned gallery during an exhibition of work by Pablo Picasso in 1949. Graham takes on the role of Kootz in his new lightbox, hoovering the carpeted floors in preparation for an exhibition opening. In the background, an art collector admires a set of abstract paintings, created by Graham and based on a drawing by Alexander Rodchenko (Abstract Composition, 1941). Here we see Graham’s characteristic and dizzying layering effect: he is an artist, acting as a gallerist, in a gallery set that he has created, with artworks he has created inspired by another artist, as an artwork.

Duration 03 October 2018 - 03 November 2018
Times Monday–Friday, 10am–6pm Saturday, 11am–5pm
Cost Free
Venue Lisson Gallery (67 Lisson Street)
Address 67 Lisson Street, London, NW1 5DA
Contact 4402077242739 / contact@lissongallery.com / www.lissongallery.com

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