"The distance between me and you."
July 9 - September 6, 200352-54 & 29 Bell Street, London
Press Release
Bas Jan Ader, Francis Alÿs, John Baldessari, Pierre Bismuth, Stefan Brüggemann, Sophie Calle, Joost Conijn, Adam Dade & Sonya Hanney, Ceal Floyer, Douglas Gordon, Dan Graham, Rodney Graham, Graham Gussin, Isabell Heimerdinger, Marine Hugonnier, On Kawara, Igor Kopystiansky, Stephen Little, Kris Martin, Jonathan Monk, Fernando Ortega, Simon Patterson, Liv Pennington, Gary Rough, Mathew Sawyer and Jemima Stehli.
"Conceptual artists are mystics rather than rationalists; they leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach." Sol LeWitt 1969
Opening 9th July, Lisson Gallery will be presenting an exciting group exhibition, taking place in both gallery spaces, showing three generations of artists exploring the idea of conceptual art within an emotional context. The exhibition is focused on artists that use the supposedly "dry" and intellectual strategies of conceptual art established in the 1960's, to trigger poetic leaps of faith and fuel the imagination. The exhibition will be centred on works that use the logical forms and processes of conceptual art but endeavour to capture the illogical, poetic, emotional or mysterious. Many of the works selected navigate between the analytical and the intuitive, occupying the distance between what we know and what we feel.
As manifested in Bas Jan Ader's I'm too sad to tell you or Douglas Gordon's Every time I think of you I die a little, the impact of the works sometimes hinges on the longing for, but impossibility of, communicating with another individual. These unexplained narratives evoke romantic feelings of solitude and alienation, highlighting also the distance between the artist and the viewer. In other instances, such as in Marine Hugonnier's beautiful photographs of the date line dividing the Bering Strait, it is the gap between the images and their implied meaning which arouse our emotional responses.
Curated by Lisa Rosendahl.
Download Press Release as PDF (75 K)
Exhibition Images
Installation view
Installation view
Jonathan Monk The distance between me and you, 2003 16mm film Dimensions variable
Graham Gussin Unseen Film, 2001 Cinema tickets and vinyl wall text Dimensions variable
Douglas Gordon I never knew, I always knew, 2003 Vinyl wall text Dimensions variable
Joost Coninj Wood Car, 2001 DVD Projection Dimensions variable
Kris Martin Mandi, 2002 Blank time and date clock 33.3 x 24.5 x 13.4 cm
Dan Graham Detumescence, 1966 Texts and newspaper on paper 67 x 71.5 cm
Fernando Ortega Casting, 2003 DVD Projection Dimensions variable
Igor & Svetlana Kopystiansky Detail, 1982 Framed Black and White photograph 39.5 x 46.5 x 3 cm
My Only Novel Translated from the French ( After William Beckford, Mark Twain ), 2000 158 A4 sheets on headed paper of 14 different translation companies. A display vitrine including French and English editions of books. 190 x 584 cm
Jemima Stehli Fall, 2003 Framed Black and white photograph 60.5 x 67.5 x 3 cm