Douglas Gordon
Encyclopedia
Douglas Gordon is a Scottish
artist
; he won the Turner Prize
in 1996 and the following year he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale
. He lives and works in New York.
and studied art
first there (at the Glasgow School of Art
) from 1984-1988 and later at the Slade School of Fine Art
, University College London
, from 1988-1990.
In one early work, Meaning and Location (1990), a passage from the Gospel of Luke
is given with a comma in different places, thus subtly changing the meaning of the sentence. List of Names (1990-present) is a list of every person Gordon has ever met and can remember. One version of this is applied onto the wall of a stairwell in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
.
Gordon has often reused older film footage in his photographs and videos. One of his best-known art works is 24 Hour Psycho
(1993) which slows down Alfred Hitchcock
's film Psycho
so that it lasts twenty four hours. Feature Film (1999) is a projection of Gordon's own film of James Conlon
conducting Bernard Herrmann
's score to Vertigo, thus drawing attention to the film score
and the emotional responses it creates in the viewer. In one installation, this was placed at the top of a tall building, referencing one of the film's main plot points. In Through a looking glass (1999), Gordon created a double-projection work around the climactic scene in Martin Scorsese
’s film Taxi Driver
(1976), in which the main character addresses the camera; the screens are arranged so that the character seems to be addressing himself.
Gordon also made a film about Zinedine Zidane
, Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle
(2006), an idea first seen in a film by Hellmuth Costard, who, in 1970, made a film about George Best
titled Football as Never Before. The feature-length film, which he co-directed with artist Philippe Parreno
and assembled from footage shot by seventeen synchronized cameras placed around the stadium in real time over the course of a single match, premiered outside the competition of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival
before screenings at numerous international venues. k.364 premiered at the Venice Film Festival
in September 2010.
Gordon has also made photograph
s, often in series with relatively minor variations between each individual piece. His Blind Stars (2002) featured publicity photographs of mid-century movie stars in which the sitters' eyes were replaced by expressionless black, white or mirrored surfaces.
In 2008, Gordon was a member of the Official Competition Jury at the 65th Venice International Film Festival
. In 2010, he collaborated with Rufus Wainwright
, creating the visuals for his tour which accompany Rufus' All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu album.
, and in 1997 he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale
. His work was the subject of a 2001 retrospective organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
, which traveled to the Vancouver Art Gallery
, Canada; the Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
, Washington, D.C. In 2005 he put together an exhibition at the Deutsche Guggenheim
, Berlin
called 'The Vanity of Allegory'. In 2006 Douglas Gordon Superhumanatural opened at the National Galleries of Scotland
complex in Edinburgh, being Gordon's first major solo exhibition in Scotland since he presented 24 Hour Psycho
in 1993. Also in 2006 there was an exhibition of his at the Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA) in New York, called "Timeline". A 2006 retrospective was on view at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany, and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
, Edinburgh.
Douglas is represented by Gagosian Gallery
and Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich.
(2006) were purchased by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
, New York.
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
; he won the Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
in 1996 and the following year he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
. He lives and works in New York.
Biography
Gordon was born in GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and studied art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
first there (at the Glasgow School of Art
Glasgow School of Art
Glasgow School of Art is one of only two independent art schools in Scotland, situated in the Garnethill area of Glasgow.-History:It was founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Government School of Design. In 1853, it changed its name to The Glasgow School of Art. Initially it was located at 12 Ingram...
) from 1984-1988 and later at the Slade School of Fine Art
Slade School of Fine Art
The Slade School of Fine Art is a world-renownedart school in London, United Kingdom, and a department of University College London...
, University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, from 1988-1990.
Work
Much of Gordon's work is seen as being about memory and uses repetition in various forms. He uses material from the public realm and also creates performance-based videos. His work often overturns traditional uses of video by playing with time elements and employing multiple monitors.In one early work, Meaning and Location (1990), a passage from the Gospel of Luke
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
is given with a comma in different places, thus subtly changing the meaning of the sentence. List of Names (1990-present) is a list of every person Gordon has ever met and can remember. One version of this is applied onto the wall of a stairwell in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, holds the national collection of modern art. When opened in 1960, the collection was held in Inverleith House, at the Royal Botanic Gardens...
.
Gordon has often reused older film footage in his photographs and videos. One of his best-known art works is 24 Hour Psycho
24 Hour Psycho
24 Hour Psycho is the title of an art installation created by artist Douglas Gordon in 1993. The work consists entirely of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 Psycho slowed down to approximately two frames a second, rather than the usual 24. As a result it lasts for exactly 24 hours, rather than the original...
(1993) which slows down Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's film Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
so that it lasts twenty four hours. Feature Film (1999) is a projection of Gordon's own film of James Conlon
James Conlon
James Conlon is an American conductor and the current Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera.-Early years:Conlon grew up in a family of five children on Cherry Street in Douglaston, Queens, New York. His mother, Angeline L. Conlon, was a freelance writer. His father was an assistant to the New...
conducting Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
's score to Vertigo, thus drawing attention to the film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
and the emotional responses it creates in the viewer. In one installation, this was placed at the top of a tall building, referencing one of the film's main plot points. In Through a looking glass (1999), Gordon created a double-projection work around the climactic scene in Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
’s film Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy...
(1976), in which the main character addresses the camera; the screens are arranged so that the character seems to be addressing himself.
Gordon also made a film about Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane is a retired French footballer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Zidane was a leading figure of a generation of French players that won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship...
, Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle
Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle
Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait is a documentary film in which the main subject is French football player Zinedine Zidane.The film is a documentary focused purely on Zidane during the Spanish Liga Real Madrid vs. Villarreal CF game on April 23, 2005 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and was filmed...
(2006), an idea first seen in a film by Hellmuth Costard, who, in 1970, made a film about George Best
George Best
George Best was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders...
titled Football as Never Before. The feature-length film, which he co-directed with artist Philippe Parreno
Philippe Parreno
Philippe Parreno is an Algerian artist and filmmaker, born in Oran, and currently living in Paris, France. Parreno's work primarily revolves around the interrogation of the nature of an image, as well as the modes of its exhibition.-Life and work:...
and assembled from footage shot by seventeen synchronized cameras placed around the stadium in real time over the course of a single match, premiered outside the competition of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
before screenings at numerous international venues. k.364 premiered at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
in September 2010.
Gordon has also made photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
s, often in series with relatively minor variations between each individual piece. His Blind Stars (2002) featured publicity photographs of mid-century movie stars in which the sitters' eyes were replaced by expressionless black, white or mirrored surfaces.
In 2008, Gordon was a member of the Official Competition Jury at the 65th Venice International Film Festival
65th Venice International Film Festival
The 65th Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, was opened on August 27, 2008 by Burn After Reading, and closed on September 6, 2008....
. In 2010, he collaborated with Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. He has recorded six albums of original music, EPs, and tracks on compilations and film soundtracks.-Early years:...
, creating the visuals for his tour which accompany Rufus' All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu album.
Exhibitions
Gordon's first solo show was in 1986. In 1993 he exhibited 24 Hour Psycho in the spaces of the Glasgow Tramway. In 1996, Gordon was one of the artists invited to Skulptur Projekte MünsterSkulptur Projekte Münster
Skulptur Projekte Münster is an exhibition of sculptures in public places in the town of Münster...
, and in 1997 he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
. His work was the subject of a 2001 retrospective organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is a contemporary art museum with three locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near Walt Disney Concert Hall...
, which traveled to the Vancouver Art Gallery
Vancouver Art Gallery
The Vancouver Art Gallery is the fifth-largest art gallery in Canada and the largest in Western Canada. It is located at 750 Hornby Street in Vancouver, British Columbia...
, Canada; the Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the...
, Washington, D.C. In 2005 he put together an exhibition at the Deutsche Guggenheim
Deutsche Guggenheim
The Deutsche Guggenheim is an art museum, located in the ground floor of the Deutsche Bank building, a sandstone building constructed in 1920 on the Unter den Linden boulevard in Berlin, Germany....
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
called 'The Vanity of Allegory'. In 2006 Douglas Gordon Superhumanatural opened at the National Galleries of Scotland
National Galleries of Scotland
The National Galleries of Scotland are the five national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries. It is one of the country's National Collections.-List of national galleries:* The National Gallery of Scotland* The Royal Scottish Academy Building...
complex in Edinburgh, being Gordon's first major solo exhibition in Scotland since he presented 24 Hour Psycho
24 Hour Psycho
24 Hour Psycho is the title of an art installation created by artist Douglas Gordon in 1993. The work consists entirely of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 Psycho slowed down to approximately two frames a second, rather than the usual 24. As a result it lasts for exactly 24 hours, rather than the original...
in 1993. Also in 2006 there was an exhibition of his at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
(MoMA) in New York, called "Timeline". A 2006 retrospective was on view at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany, and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, holds the national collection of modern art. When opened in 1960, the collection was held in Inverleith House, at the Royal Botanic Gardens...
, Edinburgh.
Douglas is represented by Gagosian Gallery
Gagosian Gallery
Gagosian Gallery is a contemporary art gallery owned and directed by Larry Gagosian. There are currently eleven gallery spaces: three in New York; two in London; one in each of Beverly Hills, Rome, Athens, Paris, Geneva, Hong Kong and Moscow.-1980s:...
and Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich.
Collections
Gallery versions of Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècleZidane, un portrait du 21e siècle
Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait is a documentary film in which the main subject is French football player Zinedine Zidane.The film is a documentary focused purely on Zidane during the Spanish Liga Real Madrid vs. Villarreal CF game on April 23, 2005 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and was filmed...
(2006) were purchased by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, holds the national collection of modern art. When opened in 1960, the collection was held in Inverleith House, at the Royal Botanic Gardens...
and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
, New York.
Awards
- 2011: London Award for Art and PerformanceLondon Awards for Art and PerformanceThe London Awards for Art and Performance is awarded in 11 different art categories, by the London Festival Fringe.It is awarded each year, at a central London venue, and is presented to artists and performers who have made an outstanding contribution to their art form.-Awards:- External links :* **...
- 2011: Les Rencontres d'ArlesRencontres d'ArlesThe Rencontres d'Arles is a summer festival of photography, founded in 1970 by the photographer Lucien Clergue, the writer Michel Tournier and the historian Jean-Maurice Rouquette. It takes place between July and September in Arles, a town in Provence, southern France.The festival shows mostly new...
festival, France - 2008: Roswitha Haftmann Prize
- 1998: Hugo Boss PrizeHugo Boss PrizeThe Hugo Boss Prize is awarded every other year to an artist working in any medium, anywhere in the world. Since its establishment in 1996, it has distinguished itself from other art awards because it has no restrictions on nationality or age...
awarded by the Solomon R. Guggenheim MuseumSolomon R. Guggenheim MuseumThe Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions... - 1997: Venice Biennial's Premio 2000 award
- 1996: Turner PrizeTurner PrizeThe Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
External links
- Works in the National Galleries of Scotland
- Gagosian Gallery: Douglas Gordon
- Yvon Lambert: Douglas Gordon
- Turner Prize 1996: Douglas Gordon
- Douglas Gordon at MoMA (06/2006)
- Another Review of what have I done (Contemporary)
- Interview (04/2006)
- Interview (12/2002)
- Gordon at the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin
- Review of "what you want me to say..." exhibition in Barcelona
- Douglas Gordon in the Video Data Bank
- "Pretty much every film and video work from about 1992 until now. To be seen on monitors, some with headphones, others run silently and all simultaneously." (1992-)
- Douglas Gordon at Dvir Gallery