Exhibition 'Rodney Graham - That’s not me' in Museum Voorlinden
‘That’s not me’ invites the visitor to step into Rodney Graham’s universe. This Canadian artist is one of the most consistent, innovative and influential artists of the past 40 years. This will be Graham’s first major exhibition in the Netherlands of his recent work. With a sense of humour and wit, he constantly questions his own identity and asks himself: what does it mean to be an artist today?
The artist captures himself in various roles and disguises, such as an amateur artist, light house keeper, sous-chef, musician and antiquarian. Graham opts for fictional archetypes, often based on old paintings and films, or purely on simple observations of daily life in his hometown of Vancouver. These transformations into characters refer to the artist’s fantasy of living another life, had circumstances been different. Graham is a master of many disciplines, creating an oeuvre with media such as photography, music, film, installations and painting.
This show focuses on Graham’s work from the past decade, in which the artist started concentrating on presenting his work in monumental light boxes. With influences as diverse as Marcel Duchamp, Sigmund Freud, Alfred Hitchcock, the Brothers Grimm, Black Sabbath and Kurt Cobain, he creates works brimming with references to art history, films and literature. With one foot in art history and the other in pop culture, Graham explores his own identity. Despite the many layers and complexity of his art, Graham’s sharp humour and wit keep the works enticing for the viewer.
