gandalf gavan was born in berlin in 1975. raised · anamorphic mirrors which simultaneously reflect...

Gandalf Gavan was born in Berlin in 1975. Raised in Europe and the U.S.A., he has travelled and worked extensively in Central and South America. Gavan received his Master’s degree from Columbia University, and a Bachelor’s from Bard College. He also studied at the Repin Academy in St. Petersburg and the Santa Fe Art Institute. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has a studio in Oaxaca, Mexico, where this show was made. He has received numerous grants and fellowships, including the prestigious Joan Mitchell Graduate Award. He holds a position as adjunct professor of art at Columbia University.

Gavan’s artistic life contemplates the conjuring of human identity and meaning in the midst of prodigious existential productivity.

Ruskin spoke about the decay of art in the dyad between proud traditional artisanship and the dehumanisation of industry. Gavan’s work utilises traditional artisan processes, as well as quotidian industrial materials. His wall panels are constructed of board with gypsum and Oaxacan lime mixed with indigenous pigment, then coated with nopal (cactus juice) and burnished in the manner of the old Zapotec sacred temples. They are installed with neon, glass, nylon rope and graffiti.

The wall panels are architectural in nature, and refer simultaneously to surfaces of the Zapotec temple, a destination in which one explores inner states, as well as walls in urban cityscapes, where

the kaleidoscopic proliferation of impressions continuously recontextualise the identity of city dwellers. Neon is both the “I” of the passerby and an exclamation of urban life.

Both contexts, the reflective surfaces of the temple and the reflective surfaces of the cityscape, create an opportunity to reflect on the matrix of identity and consciousness. These reflections refer to active metaphysical investigations: to Narcissus’s water-gazing (some say the core myth of human identity), to the shaman’s fire-gazing, to the mirror stage of Lacan, to Brion Gysin’s mirror-gazing, to the obsidian mirror of Mayan priests, to the crystal ball of the gypsy, and to the cunning and hypnotic lure of showroom windows reflecting the preening passerby amidst a behind-the-looking-glass array of commercial product.

Like Narcissus, to gaze at one’s reflection mirrors back shifting shapes of identity in a living feedback loop.

Throughout, Gavan plays with light and perception: the absorptive nature of the sculptural Zapotec felt elements in conjunction with glass and mirrors, the large untreated canvasses with reflective enamel calligraphy, the matte drawings framed in shadow boxes and glass, the anamorphic mirrors which simultaneously reflect an altered image of the viewer and the movement of shifting contexts.

Gavan plays with time, both in the moment and act of viewing, as well as in the art-making process. Both his drawings and graffiti elements incorporate Zen practice: long preparation and instantaneous execution. The wall panels, by contrast, are quick to conceive and require a long process to execute.

Gavan’s graffiti elements also explore issues of the ownership and interaction of private and public space. What is ownership, and what belongs to a building, the architectural conception and ownership management, or the additions through entropy and external agency?

The content of his graffiti is spontaneous philosophical insight. One wall panel is scrawled with the word “arete”; the Greek word for highest virtue, “to realise your greatest potential.” In another work, the scrawl of “y si” (“and yes”) is pure affirmation of a moment of individual human revelation in both sacred and profane landscapes.

The almost-ostentatious large calligraphic paintings convey a wild and full-bodied physical impulse resulting in idiosyncratically nuanced line, and the small drawings convey a delicate and subtle movement of forearm and wrist.

Gavan’s green wine bottle mini-towers are inspired by Brancusi’s Infinite Column, and in a way the Zapotec black ceramics also reference Brancusi’s egg shapes; the felt elements are both Zapotec and Beuys. The walls now lie horizontally and have

become large tiles, again burnished, again playing with reflective surfaces and boundaries.

Industrial rope coils were purchased in a small roadside bus stop in the textile center of Teotitlan del Valle, where the felt was produced. Contrasting with the natural dye of the felt, these knots explode in piercing aniline colour. How does one untie Gordian knots of contemporary identity except with acts as bold as a sword stroke? Who am I? I am a knot of identity; I am not-this, not-this. Knots. Nots.

Brancusi: “There are idiots who define my work as abstract; yet what they call abstract is what is most realistic. What is real is not the appearance, but the idea, the essence of things.”

Kathelin Gray, London, 2011.

(S)(p)(l)ace IIIMirrorised slumped glass135 x 85 x 15 cm

All works 2011

Knot NotsGypsum, lime, earth pigments and cactus juice on wood; rope and glass204 x 362 x 22 cm

SylvestreEnamel on canvas305 x 183 x 5 cm

Les MarquisGypsum, lime, earth pigments and cactus juice on wood; glass220 x 330 x 34 cm

(K)now(ledge)Gypsum, lime, earth pigments and cactus juice on wood;black polished clay,glass and neon284 x 187 x 83 cm

Espera(n)doGypsum, lime, earth pigments, acrylic and cactus juice onwood; glass, mirrorised glass, neon, wooland net293 x 203 x 69 cm

Si, Ar(e)t(e)Gypsum, lime, earth pigments, acrylic and cactus juice on wood;mirror and neon286 x 510 x 104 cm

(In)finiteGypsum, lime, earth pigments and cactus juice on wood;rope, mirror, wool and black polished clay171 x 186 x 156 cm

(Background: Les Marquis)

MineroEnamel on canvas305 x 183 x 5 cm

NationsGypsum, lime, earth pigments and cactus juice on wood120 x 270 x 5 cm

(S)(p)(l)ace IMirrorised slumped glass135 x 85 x 15 cm

Mirando/MiedoGypsum, lime, earth pigments, acrylic and cactus juice on wood220 x 165 x 5 cm

Left: Miami LinesNeon tubes306 x 108 x 111 cm

Right: (S)(p)(l)ace IIMirrorised slumped glass135 x 85 x 15 cm

Cali SallyNeon tubes306 x 150 x 50 cm

I for You for I, and?Enamel on canvas305 x 183 x 5 cm

Fuck, for Fuck’s SakeEnamel on canvas305 x 183 x 5 cm

Lassitudinal Convolition Enamel on canvas305 x 183 x 5 cm

Enamel on canvas305 x 183 x 5 cm

Quick to WitBlack polished clay,25 x 60 x 35 cm

The Mezcalero Seriesepisodes 7-18Ink and salt on paperc. 38 x 28 cm

The Mezcalero Seriesepisode 14

Ink and salt on paper38 x 28 cm





Ink and salt on paper38 x 28 cm(SOLD)






BIOGRAPHY

Born in 1975 in Berlin, Germany. Lives and works in Brooklyn.

EDUCATION2005 MFA, Columbia University, New York, NY 1998 BFA, Bard College, Annandale, NY 1997 Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM, Summer Program in Sculpture 1995-6 Repin Academy of the Arts, St. Petersburg, Russia

SOLO EXHIBITIONS2011 KNOTS, October Gallery, London2010 Teaching a Chicken How to Fly III, Larissa Goldston Gallery, New York, NY 2009 Pollos, Peligros y Otras Cárceles II, Corporación Andina de Fomento Gallery, Caracas, Venezuela 2008 Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, Winter Park, FL 2007 Incorporated Dementions, Bertrand and Gruner, Geneva, Switzerland Infinite Affinities, P.S.1, Long Island City, NY Larissa Goldston Gallery, New York, NY Expo, N2 Galeria, Barcelona, Spain 2003 Son para Daedalos, MACO (Museo de Arte Comtemporaneo Oaxaca), Oaxaca, Mexico

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS2010 Zegache, Casa Lamm, Mexico City, Mexico2009 Party at Chris’s House, Curated by Phong Bui, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY State of the Art: New York, Urbis, Manchester, UK

Fresh from Chelsea, University Gallery and Grinter Gallery, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

2008 Stable Scrawl, Larissa Goldston Gallery, New York, NY TerraUnFirma, Caren Golden Fine Art, New York, NY Cutaway, Anna Kustera, New York, NY 2007 CECUT, En TijuanArte Art Fair, Tiajuana, Mexico National and International Projects, P.S.1, Long Island City, NY 2006 Eo Ipso, Match, New York, NY Escaping New York, Curators Without Borders, Berlin, Germany Symposium II, Hotel Pupik, Schrattenberg, Austria Joan Mitchell MFA Grant Recipients, Cue Foundation, New York, NY 2005 Curvaceous, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, NY 2004 Merry Merry, Side Show Gallery, Williamsburg, NY Succeeding Where the Hippies Failed, Neiman Gallery, New York, NY FreiRaume, Freistil E.V., Berlin, Germany Re: New Frontiers in Creativity, Columbia University, New York, NY The Thomas Edison Project, LMCC & the Builders Association, New York, NY Freehand, Marvelli Labs, Brooklyn, NY Scope Circle for Emerging Artist Nomination, Scope Art Fair, NewYork, NY The Book, Neiman Gallery, New York, NY Fresh, Tilton/Kustera Gallery, New York, NY

2003 Peace, Side Show Gallery, Williamsburg, NY Kingston Sculpture Biennial, Kingston, NY Out of Line, Side Show Gallery, Williamsburg, NY 2002 Merry, Merry, Side Show Gallery, Williamsburg, NY Bon a Tirer, The Front Gallery, Dumbo, NY 2001 Merry, Side Show Gallery, Williamsburg, NY The Worst of Gordon Pym Continued, Printed Matter, New York, NY Fantastic, Get Real Art, New York, NY Clean, Get Real Art, New York, NY We Love Our Customers, Hungarian Embassy, New York, NY Symbiotic Dialogue, Goliath, Brooklyn, NY 2000 The Toy Show, four and a half projects, Brooklyn, NY 1999 The Window Project, Downtown Albuquerque, Albuquerque, NM Muestra Pictorica Colectiva de la Sociedad de Artistas del Cusco, Museo De Arte Contemporaneo, Cusco, Peru New Artists from Greenpoint, James Fuentes Gallery, New York, NY Friends, GRG Art Space, Brooklyn, NY 1998 GRG, GRG Art Space, Brooklyn, NY

PUBLIC WORKS2004 Outdoor sculpture-installation at Collegio La Salle, Oaxaca, Mexico

AWARDS/HONORS2006 Mortimer Frank Traveling Fellowship 2005 Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant 2004 Scope Art Fair Circle Nominee

BIBLIOGRAPHYBui, Phong. “In Conversation: Gandalf Gavan with Phong Bui,” The Brooklyn Rail (May 2010)Young, Jessica Bryce. “Bright young things,” Orlando Weekly (January 27, 2010) Bernstein, Fred A. “Look, Kids! A Secret Room!” The New York Times (April 19, 2009) Bishop, Philip. Review, Orlando Sentinel(March 23, 2008) de Looz, Pierre Alexander. “Los Angeles/New York: Ball Nogues & Gandalf Gavan -- On the threshold of art and architecture, East and West Coasts connect.” PIN-UP (F/W 2007-2008)Kuntz, Melissa, “Susanna Heller and Gandalf Gavan at Sideshow,” Art in America (March 2004) “Gandalf Gavan, Daedalus’s Song,” Glass(Winter 2003-04) Garcia, Julio Cesar Sanchez, “Gandalf Gavan exhibe Son para Dedalos,” Tiempo (July 31, 2003) Avendano, Olga Rosario, “Blown-glass ‘rain’ suspended over Oaxaca,” The Miami Herald(July 2003) Rosas, Blanca Gonzalez, “La artensania mexicana en el arte contemporaneo,” Proceso (July 2003) Arrazola, Victor Ruiz, “Lluvia de vidrio soplado en el centro historico de Oaxaca,” LaJornada (July 2003) Trejo, Gabriela Lopez, “Lluvia de vidrio soplado, en Oaxaca,” Tiempo (July 2003)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE2004 Adjunct Professor for Printmaking, Columbia University 2004-5 Teachers Assistant for Printmaking and Sculpture for Professors Tomas Vu, Carl Fudge, Patty Lee Becker, Ohad Meromi, Columbia University 1996-8 Teachers Assistant in Sculpture for Professors Judy Pfaff, Bill Tucker, Bard College

gandalf gavan was born in berlin in 1975. raised · anamorphic mirrors which simultaneously reflect...

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