Douglas Gordon exhibition at Fundació Miró, Barcelona

by G. Fernández – theartwolf.com
Okay, I admit that I’m a complete skeptic when it comes to awards and prizes. I don’t believe in them, neither in their value -except the economical value, of course-, nor in the criteria to award them. And the much-coveted Turner Prize, instead of being an exception, strengthens me in my views. Nevertheless, from time to time a sensible decision gives me a temporary faith in the much-hyped prizes, and the awarding of the 1996 Turner Prize to Scottish artist Douglas Gordon (Glasgow, 1966) was one of those decisions.

Gordon is the mastermind behind some of the most interesting artistic creations of the last years, covering fields such as cinematography, audiovisual installations or even literature, making him one of those artists who seem to refuse to be sorted in a certain style or tendency. Now, with no other reason that offering a new opportunity of enjoying his works, the Foundation Joan Miró in Barcelona has organized an exhibition called “What you want me to say. I’m already dead”, which showcases some of the most famous works by the Scottish artist.

“24-Hour Psycho” (1993) is one of the most celebrated works by Gordon, and it can be a perfect start point to his entire opera . A screen, placed diagonally in the middle of a quite dark hall, projects the famous film “Psycho” by Alfred Hitchcock, with the particularity that the emission, with no sound, is slowed down so its duration is increased to 24 hours. Also, this screen is translucent and the film is projected on both sides of it, so when a spectator approaches to the screen is seen by the spectators placed on the other side, causing a strange interference in such a well known film.

Similar in appearance, but quite different in its effect, is “Through a Looking Glass” (1999), in which two screens, placed face to face, projecting repeatedly a one-minute-or-so fragment from the film “Taxi Driver”, by Martin Scorsese with Robert de Niro (yeah, the famous “you talkin’ to me?” scene) In this work, the spectator does not interact with the work, but, placed between both screens, seems to be placed in the middle of a shooting, being the next victim of Travis Bickle’s paranoia. Personally, I think that this work, apparently simple or even tricky, is -with its smart use of the space and dimensions- one of the best works by Gordon.

Much more ambitious, to the point of being almost hardly enjoyable for the viewer, is the work with the descriptive title of “Pretty much every Film and Video work from about 1992 until now” (1992-?). It consists in a large group of monitors showing, as the title explains, the entire cinematographic work by Gordon in the last 14 years. The monitors, some of them accompanied with headphones, are placed in different positions in every exhibition.

Together with this “immediate effect works”, the exhibition shows some works that demand a much more interpretative complicity by the viewer. For example, “No now” (1998) is a strictly text work, written in a lonely line in the four walls of a white room. The text, apparently lacking of any sense, refers exclusively to the past and the future, avoiding any mention to the present, giving a sense to the work and its mysterious title.

“What you want me to say” (1998) is hardly understandable without an additional explication. Apparently, it consists in a group of black loudspeakers placed randomly over the floor of one of the halls; while they emit a weird “I love you. I love you. I love you” message. The work refers to the film “Brighton Rock” , directed by John Boulting. In its last scene, the protagonist records a telephonic message to a girl named Rose, which says: “what you want me to say is that I love you, but I really hate you”. The message is accidentally cut, and what the girl hears is a continuous “I love you. I love you. I love you”. Gordon seems to reflect about reality and the perception, and how it can fool us.

But even these two works seem quite boring if compared to the powerful but also intellectual complexity of “From God to Nothing” (1996). Three simple light bulbs, placed one at the height of a human head, the second at the height of a heart, and the third at the height of the genitals; hangs in the middle of a hall, allowing the viewer to read the text written in the walls. This text repeats the phrase “Fear to ____” , beginning with Fear to God and ending with Fear to nothing . The spectator can walk through the hall, reading these fears, sharing some of them, rejecting others or even making new ones, under the low and disturbing light of the three light bulbs.

Analyzing Douglas Gordon’s career, the obvious impression is that we are talking about an artist that, despite the early recognition, is still at his best, and, at his 40 years of age, seems willing to keep the conceptual experimentation that have given him exceptional results.

Douglas Gordon: through a looking glass (1999)

Douglas Gordon: Pretty much every (1992-?)

Douglas Gordon: Self portrait with scopolamine (1994)

Douglas Gordon: What you want me to say (1998)

Douglas Gordon: From God to nothing (1996)