RODNEY GRAHAM – CENTRAL QUESTIONS OF PHILOSOPHY
2018-10-08Graham’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.
Opposite – Tattooed Man on Balcony, 2018
Exhibition runs through to November 3rd, 2018
Lisson Gallery
67 Lisson Street
NW1 5DA
London
