RODNEY GRAHAM
Biography
Originally from Vancouver, Rodney Graham emerged from the shadows in the 1980s, when his work began to attract considerable attention and critical acclaim in Belgium. Critics were quick to compare him to Marcel Broodthaers, identifying their mutual interest in an art of absurd and ironical forms that casts an incisive gaze on society. His videos, sculptures and photographic work reflect his main areas of interest. His approach is grounded in the strategy of “annexation” and “non-appropriation”, as if he were somehow extending other people’s work into his own. He ties his research in with the work of other artists (for instance, he used the song “The Ramblin’ Man” by musician Waylon Jennings to make a film entitled “How I Became a Ramblin’ Man”) as well as that of Freud or Edgar Allan Poe. Rodney Graham also uses his own work as source. This is why his creations sometimes take on a serial form, where characters, objects and themes recur. He is a member of the same collective as Jeff Wall, Ian Wallace and Ken Lum. He also has his own band, The Rodney Graham Band. His work is characterised by an artful and sagacious mix of irony, philosophy, eclecticism, conceptualism and pop culture. His crucial concern lies in challenging the apparatus of perception of art and its fundamental concepts, earning him international recognition for his work, represented by galleries in Cologne, London, Brussels and Antwerp.