Post dated
DOUGLAS GORDON’s latest show looks set to continue the themes that have run through his recent work. Words: Jack Mottram
fter acquiring what is thought to be the last
letter ever written by Robert Louis Stevenson at
an auction in New York. artist Douglas Gordon decided to return it. centuries later. to its author‘s home. The Sleeper Gallery. which sits across the street from the Stevenson house. provided the perfect opportunity. With this apparently simple gesture. Gordon is tying together strands found in past works. The portent of death in Stevenson‘s 'l'reasure Island has been the recurring subject of such works as the Hand With Spot series. Polaroid photographs of marked palms. or Black Spot. which consists of cups and saucers complete with the tell- tale mark. turning an afternoon tea into a game of conceptual Russian Roulette.
This time. Gordon has gone further. appropriating an artefact rather than alluding to Stevenson’s oeuvre. and. by wrapping that appropriation up in a postal work. he changes the letter‘s status as it picks tip conceptual baggage passing through hands and crossing thresholds en route from sender to recipient. It is almost as if Gordon is giving something back. engaging on a more personal level. thanking Stevenson for the inspiration he provides by making the author's own unpublished \\l’lll'l”\ into :i
This simple gesture ties together strands found in past works
COURTESY LISSON GALLERY
Self Portrait, 2001
thank-you note for the published work.
A second. closely allied. piece explicitly links the gallery space with the postal work. Those intending to visit the show should. perhaps. look away now. The way into the exhibition space has been altered. with the door re-hung in opposition to its handle. forcing anyone attempting to gain entrance to compensate by switching left for right and vice versa. This places the person attempting to gain access to the work within the work itself. forcing them to reconsider the simple process of opening a door. Flagging tip a fresh consideration of left and right also serves to throw up allusions to Gordon‘s previous work ruminating on this most basic of oppositions. from his video pieces featuring the artist‘s arms wrestling each other to dual projections of found lilm. Fanciful though it may sound. this brief interaction with the gallery door draws the visitor deeper still into the work. making them analogous to the Stevenson letter. their status changed by crossing a threshold that is both physical and conceptual.
This. then. is an unusual show. indeed. depending on how Gordon chooses to document the two conjoined works. it may not be a show in the commonly understood sense at all. Instead. the works are akin to pins stuck in the map of the artist‘s ongoing practice. plotting a new route between his concerns and influences. At the same time. by drawing together the gallery‘s proximity to the Stevenson house. the letters long-delayed journey back to its author and the visitors‘ experience of a misaligned door. Gordon is projecting his conceptual concerns onto the physical topography of the New Town. blurring the real-world map by placing the artist. his inspiration and those experiencing the work in the same space.
g'nnnr‘v an: ‘n AI.” can ‘vf‘r‘
The best exhibitions opening this week
it Douglas Gordon Turner Prize winning Glasgow artist Douglas Gordon comes to the festival to create an installation for the Sleeper space. The work centres around one of the last letters that Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, which Gordon bought at an auction a few years back. See preview. Sleeper, 225 8444, 79 Aug—20 Sep, free.
la Hiroshi Sugimoto ‘Photography was just a second-class medium and I wanted to make it first class.’ Sugimoto certainly achieved that in this exhibition of black and white photographs. Turning his lens to 20th century architecture, the world’s oceans and pinetrees produced for a Noh theatre piece, the works are both meditative and powerful. The Frultmarket Gallery, 225 2383 and Stills, 622 6200, until 27 Sep, £3 (£7.50).
Howard Hodgkin: Large Paintings 1984-2002 Around 20 richly coloured paintings made over the last two decades by the celebrated painter Howard Hodgkin. One of the most significant artists working today, Hodgkin paints thoughts and memories of past events that delve deep into his subconscious. Dean Gallery, 624 6200, until 6 Oct, £3.50 (£2. 50).
Cy Nomby Paintings, photography, collage and sculpture by the American artist Cy Twomy in the first Scottish showing of his works. Inspired by Klee and the abstract expressionists, his graffiti-like works combine art and language with elements of the unconscious. lnver/eith House, Royal Botanic Garden, 552 7777, until 27 Oct, free.
its Moyna Flannigan: I’m a Stranger Here Myself A solo show of new oils and watercolours of fictional characters made specifically for the exhibition by Moyna Flannigan. Without the direct use of sitters or photographs. the Edinburgh-born artist creates intriguing portraits made from memory. doggerflsher, 558 77 70. until 29 Sep. free.