Gabriel Lester
13 Jan - 24 Feb 2007
GABRIEL LESTER
"BIG BANG and Assorted Minor Explosions"
For his debut exhibition in the UK, the young Dutch international artist Gabriel Lester has created a series of three works for Bloomberg SPACE, which expresses his preoccupation with the illusions of theatre and cinema. He creates a subtle play between the pictorial and the sculptural, each work emphasising different aspects of the theatrical experience - action, mood and location.
BIG BANG (2007), a room-sized sculpture commissioned for Bloomberg SPACE, which fills the double height of the first gallery, takes the form of a series of stage flats through which the visitor is invited to walk. Only upon reaching the front of the stage is the illusion fully revealed. Taking its cue from the devices employed in baroque ceiling painting, Lester’s sculpture telescopes time and space while also appearing to extend beyond the architectural framework of the gallery.
How to Act (2000) takes the appearance of an empty stage. Coloured lights set into the roof are programmed to accompany a number of audio extracts that are taken from old movies. The audience is encouraged to imagine narratives or events that are evoked by the choreography of light and sound.
A number of theatrical backcloths are densely hung around Bloomberg’s internal atrium in Untitled (Backdrops) (2007). Lester’s arrangement creates a dark canvas tunnel, which obscures views of the building, and simultaneously a display of overlapping vistas that address it. This primarily urban landscape is fragmented in a kaleidoscopic collage of painted realism that rapidly shifts between foreground and background, real and unreal.
Gabriel Lester was born in Amsterdam in 1972. He lives and works in Brussels.
His solo exhibitions include Seen, Boniers Konsthal, Stockholm (2006); A.B.C. Behind the Scenes, Glucksman Gallery, Cork (2005) and Chiaroscuro, Natalia Goldin Gallery, Stockholm (2005). His group exhibitions include Bussan Biennale (2006); Cross Section, Museum De Paviljoens, Almere (2006); For Sale, Torino Biennale (2005); This May Be... Sculpture Center, New York (2005) and Black Market World, Baltic Triennale, Vilnius/London (2005).
"BIG BANG and Assorted Minor Explosions"
For his debut exhibition in the UK, the young Dutch international artist Gabriel Lester has created a series of three works for Bloomberg SPACE, which expresses his preoccupation with the illusions of theatre and cinema. He creates a subtle play between the pictorial and the sculptural, each work emphasising different aspects of the theatrical experience - action, mood and location.
BIG BANG (2007), a room-sized sculpture commissioned for Bloomberg SPACE, which fills the double height of the first gallery, takes the form of a series of stage flats through which the visitor is invited to walk. Only upon reaching the front of the stage is the illusion fully revealed. Taking its cue from the devices employed in baroque ceiling painting, Lester’s sculpture telescopes time and space while also appearing to extend beyond the architectural framework of the gallery.
How to Act (2000) takes the appearance of an empty stage. Coloured lights set into the roof are programmed to accompany a number of audio extracts that are taken from old movies. The audience is encouraged to imagine narratives or events that are evoked by the choreography of light and sound.
A number of theatrical backcloths are densely hung around Bloomberg’s internal atrium in Untitled (Backdrops) (2007). Lester’s arrangement creates a dark canvas tunnel, which obscures views of the building, and simultaneously a display of overlapping vistas that address it. This primarily urban landscape is fragmented in a kaleidoscopic collage of painted realism that rapidly shifts between foreground and background, real and unreal.
Gabriel Lester was born in Amsterdam in 1972. He lives and works in Brussels.
His solo exhibitions include Seen, Boniers Konsthal, Stockholm (2006); A.B.C. Behind the Scenes, Glucksman Gallery, Cork (2005) and Chiaroscuro, Natalia Goldin Gallery, Stockholm (2005). His group exhibitions include Bussan Biennale (2006); Cross Section, Museum De Paviljoens, Almere (2006); For Sale, Torino Biennale (2005); This May Be... Sculpture Center, New York (2005) and Black Market World, Baltic Triennale, Vilnius/London (2005).