Douglas Gordon: What have I done
Hayward Gallery, London
1 November 2002 – 5 January 2003
Douglas Gordon is best known for his video installations using classic Hollywood films, particularly those of Alfred Hitchcock. He also uses photography, installation, text and sound to investigate the complexities of human nature. This, his first major London solo exhibition, has been designed by the artist specifically for the Hayward’s distinctive spaces. Showcasing the full range of his art, it combines the epic and the intimate in an atmospheric exploration of doubling and duplicity, biography and autobiography, fact and fiction.
One of the most prominent artists of his generation, Turner Prize winner Douglas Gordon (b. 1966) first showed at the Hayward Gallery in 1996 with 24 Hour Psycho, the work which brought him to international attention. 24 Hour Psycho returns to the Hayward as a starting point for this new exploration of Douglas Gordon’s work.
What have I done, the title of the exhibition, is taken from a series in which the artist sporadically sends short, cryptic letters to people, both in and beyond the art world. The implied complicity and duplicity of the phrase is allied to the dark themes of split personality and demonic possession explored by James Hogg in his 19th century novel The Confessions of a Justified Sinner – the book is the inspiration for much of Gordon’s work.
Between Darkness and Light (After William Blake) (1997) contrasts possession by good and evil forces, as Douglas Gordon twins the films The Song of Bernadette and The Exorcist on either side of the same screen. A new film, Fog (2002), evokes the atmosphere of James Hogg’s work.
Many of the works in the show are, or appear to be, autobiographical. In the sound piece Something between my mouth and your ear (1994) Douglas Gordon creates a blue room, in which he plays the songs that were in the Top 20 during the nine months he spent in the womb - his first exposure to culture. On a more intimate scale, a number of photographic and video self portraits punctuate the exhibition, including his 1994 piece Kissing with Sodium Pentothal, a truth drug which Douglas Gordon took at a party before kissing unsuspecting fellow guests.
The exhibition is curated by James Lingwood and Fiona Bradley.
In the book which accompanies the show, twin autobiographies – one written, one pictorial – shadow the art in the exhibition.
Douglas Gordon was born in Glasgow in 1966. He trained at the Glasgow School of Art and the Slade School of Art in London. He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally. In addition to winning the Turner Prize in 1996, he was awarded the Premio 2000 at the Venice Biennale in 1997 and the Hugo Boss Prize in 1998. He now lives in Glasgow and New York.
Hayward Gallery notes that parents and guardians are advised that some of the works in this exhibition may be considered unsuitable for children.
HAYWARD GALLERY
South Bank, London SE1
