Ryan Gander: I let somebody get under my skin

Annet Gelink Gallery proudly presents the third solo exhibition 'I let somebody get under my skin' by Ryan Gander (Chester, England, 1976). After his research sabbatical in 2007 Ryan Gander is now again receiving a lot of attention. In 2008 he had worldwide solo exhibitions, such as the critically acclaimed touring shows Heralded as the New Black (South London Gallery, IKON Gallery in Birmingham, and this spring in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam) and Something Vague (Bonner Kunstverein and Kunstverein Sankt Gallen), more recently he has exhibited Somebody's playing me at Taro Nasu Gallery in Tokyo and Championed by rigour at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York.
I let somebody get under my skin is an ambiguous title which refers both to allowing someone to influence you, either at the very first moment - or sometimes afterwards. Ryan Gander made new works that are as multifaceted as his previous works. Besides film, video and photography, the show includes sculptures, wall texts and a wall paper on display. This diversity originates from his fascination in the world around him, from which he collects, investigates, stores and eventually processes (or not) things in works of art. This associative manner of working yields fascinating work which is both conceptual and intellectual, and very intimate and personal, in which the spectator is put to think about his viewing behavior.
With the film Things that mean things and things that look like they mean things for instance Ryan Gander puts the entering visitor on the wrong track; the work seems to be a documentary about making a video titled 'The Magic and the Meaning'. However, the video turns out to be a fictive moving portrait shot on 16mm film of art students making studies and drawings of works by Francis Bacon within Tate Britain, London. Ryan Gander often refers to others in his work: artists, architects, scientists, cartoon figures, historical figures and movements. In I'm getting off here in the center room he tells subtly about Le Corbusier's death in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin (France) in 1965. Le Corbusier, a major source of inspiration for Ryan Gander, dies when swimming near his self-built villa in the Mediterranean after having once said: 'How nice it would be to die swimming towards the sun'. The video installation Encrypt, Encrypt, Encrypt... revisited in the back room refers amongst others to the Bauhaus manifest (1919). On the three monitors you can watch a yellow jumping ball reminding one of a karaoke set, only without text and sound. The movement of the ball refers to Ryan Gander reading the Bauhaus manifest. The logos on the TVs have been adjusted in the 'Bauhaus Demi' font. The half-full glass of whisky on the ground gives the impression that someone has just left the set.