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Douglas Gordon

through a looking glass

March 6–April 10, 1999
Wooster Street, New York

Douglas Gordon, through a looking glass, 1999 2 video projections, Dimensions variable

Douglas Gordon, through a looking glass, 1999

2 video projections, Dimensions variable

Douglas Gordon, through a looking glass, 1999 2 video projections, Dimensions variable

Douglas Gordon, through a looking glass, 1999

2 video projections, Dimensions variable

Douglas Gordon, through a looking glass, 1999 2 video projections, Dimensions variable

Douglas Gordon, through a looking glass, 1999

2 video projections, Dimensions variable

About

Gagosian is pleased to present an exhibition by Douglas Gordon. The downtown Gagosian will present a major new work—through a looking glass—consisting of two large-scale video projections that quote one of Hollywood’s most memorable scenes. Using a monologue from Martin Scorcese’s Taxi Driver, Gordon traps the viewer between two images of the film’s protagonist, Travis Bickle—one “real” and the other a “reflection of the real.” The projections appear at first to be mirror images of one another, but they quickly trip out of sync and into a manic dialogue that bounces around the gallery, both visually and audibly.

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication that includes a screenplay by filmmaker Hal Hartley, composed of email messages between him and Gordon, and an essay by film critic Amy Taubin, who will publish a book about Taxi Driver early next year. About Gordon’s work, Taubin states:

In through a looking glass, Travis aims at himself and at us from two sides. And again and again. Deprived of our secure place in the theater or living room, we are much more vulnerable to Travis’s rage and violence and to the echo it calls up within ourselves. Gordon doesn’t allow us the comparative safety of going all the way through the looking glass into a topsy turvy world that has its own kind of reverse logic. Instead he traps us inside the two faces of the glass where the pronouns “you” and “me” fly around our heads like bullets and we don’t know which part of ourselves to protect first.

Installation view with Douglas Gordon, Pretty much every film and video work from about 1992 until now... (1999–)

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.

still from video of eyeball

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

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

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

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

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.