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The expression on his face was not so much mortal terror as of mortal sickness. . . . he reeled, put his hand to his throat, stood swaying for a moment, and then, with a peculiar sound, fell from his whole height face foremost to the floor. I went down on my knees at once. On the floor close to his hand there was a little round of paper, blackened on the one side. I could not doubt that this was the black spot. . . .
—Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, 1883
Gagosian is pleased to present Douglas Gordon: thirteen, an exhibition consisting of three series of recent photographs and a related wall text.
Two of the series are derived from the 1883 novel Treasure Island, in which the portentous black spot in the palm of a hand becomes the mark of death. In one of the “black spot” series, Gordon has taken thirteen Polaroid photographs of his left (sinister) hand and enlarged it to a monstrous scale spanning up to three feet. This process of one hand taking a photograph of the other produces a fragmented, duplicitous self-portrait. In the second “black spot” series, Gordon enlarged a detail of his marked hand to create a landscape of foreboding and jeopardy.
The third series, Croque Mort, comprises seven images, all in editions of thirteen. The term croque mort (literally, “to bite the dead”) refers to the French vernacular term for mortician. In the past, especially during times of war and plague, there was no scientific method for deciphering death. The best way to test for live reflexes was to bite the feet of those thought to be dead. Gordon inverts this narrative into seven different images of an infant biting its feet, a further ominous allusion to his investigations of mortality, innocence, and perversion.
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Douglas Gordon: To Sing
On the occasion of Douglas Gordon: All I need is a little bit of everything, an exhibition in London, curator Adam Szymczyk recounts his experiences with Gordon’s work across nearly three decades, noting the continuities and evolutions.
Douglas Gordon: if when why what
Douglas Gordon took over the Piccadilly Lights advertising screen in London’s Piccadilly Circus, as well as a global network of screens in cities including Berlin, Melbourne, Milan, New York, and Seoul, nightly for three minutes at 20:22 (8:22pm) throughout December 2022, with his new film, if when why what (2018–22). The project was presented by the Cultural Institute of Radical Contemporary Art (CIRCA) in conjunction with the exhibition Douglas Gordon: Neon Ark at Gagosian, Davies Street, London.
Douglas Gordon
Katrina Brown discusses the importance of Douglas Gordon’s 24 Hour Psycho (1993) and some of the films that followed, touching on threads that run throughout the artist’s career.
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2018
The Spring 2018 Gagosian Quarterly with a cover by Ed Ruscha is now available for order.
Douglas Gordon: I had nowhere to go
Featuring an extensive interview with Douglas Gordon on the process of making his 2016 film I had nowhere to go: Portrait of a displaced person, this video, produced by Berlin Art Link, includes clips of Jonas Mekas and revealing anecdotes about the creation of the film.
Douglas Gordon and Morgane Tschiember
Douglas Gordon and Morgane Tschiember’s installation As close as you can for as long as it lasts, presented during Elevation 1049: Avalanche in Gstaad, Switzerland.
