Ryan Gander
Photo: courtesy of the artist and Lisson Gallery
Ryan Gander
England born 1976
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NGV International
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PROJECT
Ryan Gander’s experimental practice can be understood as a compilation of clues staged by the artist for the viewer to solve. ‘The great potential of art is its ability to remain open, and to resist closure’, explains the artist.
In The end, the final work in a trilogy of animatronic mice, Gander calls into question the age we live in. The artist speculates existential and philosophical ideas through an animatronic mouse sculpture voiced by one of his young daughters. Drawing parallels between construction and storytelling, Gander’s work invites an intriguing and playful opportunity to reckon with some of the biggest ideas that face humanity: climate change, the effects of our technology-led age and ‘the end’.
ABOUT
Ryan Gander OBE RA works across a range of media – from sculpture to film, writing, graphic design, installation and performance. In 2017 he was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to contemporary art. Gander’s work involves a questioning of language and knowledge. Gander studied at Manchester Metropolitan University; the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam; and the Jan van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht. He has been a Professor of Visual Art at the University of Huddersfield and holds an honorary Doctor of the Arts at the Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Suffolk.
Purchased with funds donated by Vivien and Graham Knowles, 2022
This artist has been supported by the Elizabeth Summons Grant in Memory of Nicholas Draffin